Uzumaki Naruto Ninja Chronicles: Begining
by Demon Eyes Laharl
Summary: Naruto suddenly has the powers of a half Overlord and part mystic fox before he trains with Jiraiya, in an adventure he and his sister Kyubi will never forget.
1. Prologue

The Hidden Leaf Village… beautiful, peaceful. Those two words were just enough to describe this ninja village in a normal day. Unfortunately, today wasn't a normal day. Hell, it wasn't even normal on a not normal day, if that makes sense.

Shonobis, hundreds and maybe thousands of shinobis gathered around the forest enar the village, throwing weapons towards a gigantic monstrous fox as it roared loudly, its 9 tails swaying at random directions. But the weapons don't seem to have an effect, as it just made the monster even madder. It swung its huge claws killing dozens with each swing.

"We can't hold it anymore!" one of the ninjas declared. "We have to go back!"

"The more we move back, the harder it will be for the Fourth to make his move…" the older ninja replied. "We have to delay this monster until he arrives!"

"But… its unstoppable!"

The older ninja didn't reply, his mouth twitching, but hidden beneath the mask. Its true. The monster was an unstoppable force. Legends say it appears once every 10 years, causing mayhem, chaos, destruction and death… and it is also said to be one of the mythical creatures to have Absolute Chakra.

Absolute Chakra is one type of chakra that literally is Infinite. There are a few unique marks that show the Absolute Chakra in mythical creatures. A few examples are Halo's over the head, and others are brandished black marks on their arms or legs. The Demon Fox had nine long tails to mark him, according to the legend. The nine tails can cause mountains to move, and tidal waves to be made. It was a monstrous monster.

But the legend was wrong in one thing. The fox wasn't a 'he'. It was a 'she'. And she was about to embark on the strangest adventure yet.

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"Ehhhh…" Buds declared as he watched his sister run away, screaming that she didn't want to hold the flare that he ignited. "What the hell… point it upwards! UPWARDS!"

"Noooooo!" she screamed, running around like a chicken about to lose her head. The time was 11:56 PM of 31 December 2004. The New Year is fast approaching, with a few minutes to connect them to 2005. Not really much excited. Everything virtually is the same. After a bit, it was school time once again.

Buds slowly took the candle he was holding, and tube of "Fountain" fireworks. He placed it an a hard surface, and put the candle's flame in it. He waited a bit until the rope caught fire, and jumped a bit, putting distance between himself and the lit tube. He waited a bit… a few seconds… a few more… he smirked.

_3… 2… 1… ignition… _he thought before the whole thing began to sparkle and made light sparks shoot up and fall down as gravity took its effect. The whole view clearly stated why it was called 'fountain'. Closing his eyes, he smiled with accomplishment.

In the old days, he'd be in the back, watching his uncle or father light the fuse. He was like his sister, more or less, at her age. Scared of getting burned. Scared of pain. Not really a shameful trait… but he laughed as he opened his eyes and watched the light swirl around… 9 red lights moving in zig zag motion, never touching the ground…

Buds blinked. He rubbed his eyes. He watched. 9 lines of light moving around, randomly, not touching the ground, he wondered what it was. After all… fountains don't do that… right?

He was about to look even closer when suddenly, he heard "BEEP BEEP" sounds coming from his side. Turning his face towards the source of sound, and his eyes widened in surprise. He saw a Ford Explorer, full speed, charging towards him.

The driver was either in a hurry, stupid or both, as he drove at breathtaking speeds, his hand on the horn, his foot on the pedal in the metal. He probably couldn't see Buds as he stood there, shocked as the car rushed to him.

No time to think. No time to even breath. He bent his knees, and jumped out of the way. Unconsciously, he jumped to the towards the fountain, and the last thing he saw he the 9 red lights before a flash of light blinded him.

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A blonde man with wild spiky hair stood up straight up on top of the giant frog summon, looking at the red fox with dread. The frog's eyes seem to go up, and look at the blonde man. It opened its mouth slightly, and spoke, "Yondaime… are you sure about this? If it doesn't work…"

"It will work, my friend… I have faith in this Jitsu. But… I need more time for preparation. And… we need to somehow distract the damn Demon Fox… or else will target me before I complete the sealing," the blonde man replied.

The frog looked around, and saw a group of powerful ninjas grouping together. "I hope the distraction team will prove to be useful here…"

"They will have to… or else… we are doomed," was all the blonde man said. A few moments of silence, he watched the leader of the group raise his hands. And suddenly, they moved.

The group surrounded the front of the gigantic demon fox and began to throw everything they had, in different directions. The fox growled, and used her claws to swipe away three members of the group, but they were swift, and scattered accordingly.

While the fox's attention was elsewhere, the blonde man smiled. "This is it…" and he began to perform hand seals. "Hitsuji-I-Mi-Ne-Inu-U-Mi-Uma-Tori! Fuuin Jitsu!"

The frog shivered as the Jitsu was complete. "Yondaime…"

The blonde man didn't answer. He just looked forward and waited until the allotted time needed was complete. He felt something behind him, and turned his head slightly, and gasped silently.

"… So… that is how he looks like…"

"What? What did you say?" the frog asked.

"Nothing…" the man replied, looking back towards the fox. "Nothing is wrong… everything is going as planned…"

The fox seemed to get smarter, as she suddenly began to use her tail as an advantage, and whirled around. The ninjas were good, but at the rate they were going, it seem that they would need to retreat and plan another form of attack.

"Come on you stupid fox!" one of the ninjas declared as he began to retreat towards the the east direction, whispering, "I should draw it away from the Fourth until the Jitsu is complete…"

Unfortunately, the fox had other plans. It really wasn't that stupid, actually. For a 'Mass Destroyer' and 'Monster' it was pretty smart. It could feel if Chakra was being used into something. And right now, she felt a large and dangerous one on the guy on top of the frog.

She also wondered one thing. The frog was her size… well, in scale, that is. And the person on top of it… he seemed pretty strong. Why wasn't it attacking? And what's that ominous feeling she had? It was like… something in the air bothered her. And the energy flow in that man… something wasn't right.

Instead of that puny human who was shouting stuff at her, she went straight towards the frog, ready to attack.

"Eh… its coming this way…" the frog muttered. "Distraction Team failed…"

"The preparations are almost done…" the Fourth stated, his eyes looking behind him.

"How do you know that?" the frog asked, his hand going for the dagger on his side.

"I can see 'him'. He's almost done with the Ritual…" the Fourth said mysteriously.

"'Him'? Who is hi…" the frog cut himself short when the fox was almost at him. "Damn it… Looks like it's my turn to delay it…"

Unsheathing his gigantic dagger, the frog went to a defensive position, bracing itself for the monster, when suddenly a spark of light caught his attention. The fox, seemingly too, caught by surprise by the sudden flash of light just above her head. Both paused as it looked at the spherical light, a bit enchanted, a bit shocked, and a bit weirded out. After all, the phenomenon taking place is something never seen in this world…

The light stopped flashing, and shrunk little by little to nothingness… leaving behind… a human boy…?

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The flashes of light stopped, and the boy could only have a second to realize something. Just a second ago, he was dodging a stupid SUV… and the next second, he was on open air… on top of a giant mean looking fox… and a giant frog with a man on its head. And gravity was beginning to work against him…

"Oh… SHIIIIIIIIIITTTT!!!!" he shouted as he fell down towards the fox.

He blinked… his voice sounded muffled… he looked at his left, and saw a black cloth flowing in the air with him. He looked at his hands… black gloves. He looked at his shirt; white shirt with black tribal lines. He looked at his pants… loose ripped black pants equipped a very long red belt in the waist, and black rubber shoes with orange lines.

"Am I…?" he didn't finish as he saw the fox nose on his way, and he wasn't prepared to take a landing. Spinning forward, he positioned his feet to land on the fox, and bent his knees to absorb the impact. He also readied his arms in case he needed extra support.

He didn't need it, as he landed smoothly on the snout of the fox, and stood up straight, and looked at the eyes of the creature he landed in. The red tint of the eyes of the fox didn't give a very exact reflection of himself, but no doubt about it. His spiky hair, the black nitemare scarf covering his mouth and wrapped around his neck, his lean appearance… and the slit in his eyes; Demon Eyes Laharl.

"Ouch… damn… what happened?" Laharl asked as he twirled his arm around, loosening the joints. "Where am I? Who the hell is this fox?"

The surprise was over as the fox suddenly realized there was an impudent… human? Well… human like, puny thing on her beautiful snout. She growled, and began to jump around.

"Whoa!" Laharl shouted as he began to lose his footing. Scalpels formed around his hand automatically, and wrapped around his fingers as he grabbed the snout, and the scalpel acted like claws, digging in her skin to make him hang on.

The fox roared in pain, and began to jump more and more violently. The pain wasn't unbearable… but it stung her in an annoying way. Laharl screamed as he tried to hang on, "CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN! JUST LET ME OFF SAFELY AND IT WONT HURT ANYMORE!!!"

The fox didn't listen as it jumped more and more violently, and began to try and pry the bastard who stuck needles in her snout with her paws. The boy screamed as he dodged to the right, left, right, right, left, left, left… and then, timed the paw correctly as it was going to swipe him, and used it to help him jump back on top of her nose, and wasted no time, he dashed towards the fox, and stared it in the eyes.

The fox suddenly stopped as she felt the eyes of the boy on her… and everything went black.

Laharl didn't have time to gasp as everything for him went black as well…

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"WHAT THE HELL?!" a lady with fox ears and nine fox tails behind her began to scream. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

"That's what I want to ask…" a male voice replied behind her. The Fox lady gasped, and turned around. She saw a young man with purple spiky hair, red eyes, and… fox ears and a fox tail?

"YOU! YOU'RE THAT BASTARD WHO PUT SPIKES IN MY NOSE!!! PREPARE TO DIE!!!" she screamed and lunged towards him.

The boy calmly pointed at her. "You're naked…"

She stopped running, and paused… and looked at herself. "EEEEEEEKKKKK!!!" she screamed and covered herself. She paused again. "Waitaminute… why am I acting like a stupid human girl?! I'm a fox. I'm always naked… well… covered in fur. AH!" she pointed at Laharl. "You're naked too!"

Laharl shrugged. "Of course… I'm just a mental projection. I can be naked or not…" and his normal clothes appeared, covering him. "See? You try it, while I figure out what the fuck happened."

"I'm fine without clothes, I was just surprised…" the fox woman declared. "More importantly, what are you doing here?! I'll assume you are in my head, since you mentioned 'mental projection'."

"Yeah, we are on your head…" Laharl replied. "You were swiping me with your claws, I had to calm you down. So I used my Demon Eyes on you."

"Demon Eyes?" the woman snarled softly.

"My power. Projection of my mental self towards your mind with the use of your eyes as a medium," Laharl explained. "I hack inside your brain, and basically gives me power to do anything. Usually, I give illusions, and dreams since projecting myself to the mind of any organism takes a lot of energy in me… but somehow… when I was about to give you a dream, I couldn't control anything from your brain… its strange…"

The woman looked at him… and whispered softly… "So… that's how it is… eh?"

"Eh? What was that?" Laharl asked, hearing something from her, but not fully understanding.

"YOU BRAIN HACKER!!!" she shouted and punched Laharl straight in the face. "You're ASS IS MINE!" and she sat on top of him and began to strangle him.

"ECK! AT… LEAST… PUT… ON… SOME… CLOTHES!!!! ACK!" Laharl shouted as he was strangled.

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"The… fox stopped…" the frog muttered.

The Fourth nodded. "Its complete… its time to end this!"

Unnoticed to them, they didn't see Laharl come out of the light. Although they did notice the fox stop, and thrashing away, swiping her paws in her face, and suddenly stop. They took this as a chance to finish it once and for all.

"Take this… FUIIN JITSU!" the fourth shouted.

A flash of light burst from the Fourth, and the fox disappeared, along with Laharl who was on top of her snout.

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"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Laharl shouted as he felt something pulling him away.

"WHAT IS THIS?!" the fox lady screamed, feeling the same thing.

Both souls were taken away from their bodies. The giant fox disappeared, as its soul was taken. Laharl, surprisingly, also had his body disappear as his soul was taken away as well.

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The Fourth grunted, and went down to one knee. He saw the hand of the Death God grabbing the Fox's soul, and unknown to him, Laharl's as well. "Okay… lets go…!" he said weakly.

The big frog nodded. "Hang on, Yondaime… I'll bring you there now…"

The frog disappeared in a cloud of smoke, and reappeared near the outskirts of the village. There was a camp there, a small one, with a few torches to keep the place lit. There were also a few people around; one of them was an aged man with a grayish goatee. He seemed to be expecting his arrival, because once the frog appeared, he rushed towards them.

"Yondaime…!" the old man softly called. "… you did it… didn't you?"

The blonde man looked at the other man weakly… "There is no time… bring me to him…"

The old man wasted no time, and signaled some people to help him carry the man. A few people were shocked, and had cried out "Hokage-sama!" "He's hurt!" "Come on… help him…!" and led him inside the main tent of the camp. The giant frog watched the whole spectacle before giving a respectful nod to the man who rode his back, and vanished in a puff of smoke.

When that was done, the old man signaled the others to leave. They obediently obeyed, and took off without a sound. The blonde man slowly made his way inside, feeling his life being stolen away. On his left hand clutched a scroll. The knuckles of that hand were white. Whatever the scroll was, it was important to him, the old man noticed that.

After a few painful steps, the Hokage finally saw what he was looking for. A basket surrounded by a few lit candles, and the sound of the crying baby. The blonde man broke to a very happy smile, seeing the baby crying, the evidence of its life.

"Naruto… this is a burden that I can only entrust upon only one person… you," the blonde man stated, his right hand holding him up as he neared the basket with the baby inside. "Hopefully… you'll understand… and grow up to be a strong Ninja…"

"Yondaime…" the old man called softly. "Are you ready?"

"Yes…" the Hokage replied.

The old man nodded, and softly made a few hand signs. Green energy began to flow out, and covered the entire room, and slowly began to shrink towards the baby and the blonde man. It encased them both.

The technique was a complex field energy, sealing not only two individuals in the physical plane, but also in the spiritual plane. This was needed for the transferring of soul the Fourth was about to do.

The blonde man smiled sadly. He took the scroll, opened it. It looked blank, and laid it opn on top of the baby's stomach. He then began to grunt, seemingly exerting effort into something. Slowly, he raised his hands, and the old man looked quite surprised when he saw a spiritual hand raising itself, copying the Fourth's movement. The ghostly hand's palm suddenly had something spherical on it, spinning slowly into a spiral. The fourth slowly put lowered his arm, the palms from face p now slowly facing down. The white spirit hand followed suit as well…

Yondaime manipulated the hand to move towards the scroll on top of baby's stomach… and slowly pressed down. The white hand passed through the scroll, and the baby seem to suddenly become rigid, and suddenly burst out with a wail of anguish. The fourth grimaced. The baby was getting hurt…

"A little more… hold on Naruto…" he muttered, and lowered his hands even more. Then, he was satisfied. "SEAL!"

A black mark formed in the navel of the baby. First, it was a small dot, then began to move out towards a circle, and began to spiral outwards. Then, eight marks surrounded the spiral, and the Fourth smiled slowly and lifted his arms as the seal was done.

"Done…" he whispered. "Hehe… that wasn't as hard as I… ugh…" and slowly collapsed. The older man gasped, and caught the other before he fell completely to the ground.

"Yondaime! Yondaime!" the older man shouted. He placed a hand on the Fourth's neck, and checked the pulse. There was none. He placed a hand on his chest… there was no heart beat. The old man's eyes glistened, tears slowly filling up. "Yondaime… how could this happen? At such a young age… I made you promise by Kami-sama that I would die first before you!"

The older man slowly laid the man on the floor… and closed the Fourth's eyes. He looked… peaceful. He seemed to choose death over being killed… dying on his terms. He looked up to the stone altar where the baby was. It didn't cry. It seemed to copy his father, and went to sleep.

"Yondaime…" the old man whispered. "You're sacrifice won't go to waste… Your bloodline won't end here. I shall promise this to you…"

Inside the navel of the sleeping baby, two souls behind bars closed by a powerful paper seal looked at each other in disbelief. The woman still had no clothes, and the young man looked even more shocked than anything.

As much as they were different, they did have something in common… "WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!" they both shouted.

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(Music: Swamped by Lacuna Coil)

The old man resumed his duties once again as the Third Hokage, with the Fourth who sacrificed himself for the villagers. His first task was to take care of Yondaime's child, Naruto. He called in the villagers, and brought Naruto along, and proclaimed the blonde boy as a hero, the carrier of the nine tailed demon fox. He would have thought such proclamation would make them appreciate the young baby, the symbol of the Fourth's love and sacrifice to the village.

It turned the opposite. No sooner then he announced it the people began to demand the execution of the baby. "Kill him and kill the demon inside him!" was the first statement and demand they said. "He is the demon himself! No human being can contain such an evil soul inside it!" was a statement the villagers said to justify their demand. "He's UGLY!" … well, that was a stupid statement, but the village considered it as a valid point.

Things don't turn out as they were expected to. The Third Hokage had thought that some family would be kind enough to watch over Yondaime's last living proof of his life… the Fourth Hokage's flesh and blood… but no. The village seemed too ignorant for their own good. He frankly was quite disgusted by the way they were acting.

He had thought he could take care of Naruto himself… he had considered to train another young gun, treat him like a son he never had… like Orochimaru. But before he could, the council forbade him. They reasoned out that the Hokage, the leader of the whole village, taking care of the black sheep of the community would demolish his image and power. Chaos and power struggles could take place. It also didn't help that almost a third of the council detested the boy like the villagers, and certainly didn't make the Third comfortable when he heard some jounins were also for the death of Uzumaki Naruto.

It was a bit understandable. The Kyubi, or Nine Tailed Demon Fox had caused and wrecked havoc and killed lots and lots of skilled Ninjas. Fathers and mothers died, leaving their family to suffer. The death of the Demon might have been enough to ease them… but now they know the Kyubi isn't dead. It's much alive, inside a baby at that! What if the Kyubi breaks out of that weak shell of his? Its better to destroy the baby before the monster can be let loose again, right?!

The Third Hokage was on his last card. After a few weeks of listening to protests and demands of the baby executed, he made the rule. "From this day forth, Uzumaki Naruto will be part of the Hidden Leaf Village. He will be protected and given opportunities like any other child. No special favors will be done to him, nor will he be disadvantaged from everyone. He has rights like other citizens here."

"And also, I'd extend this to the whole village. The fact of him being the vessel for the Kyubi shall be silenced. No one is allowed to talk to anyone about the nature of Uzumaki Naruto, not to people outside the village, and not even amongst yourselves. Offense to this rule will be punished most severely. First offense is stripping of the right to be a shinobi. Second offense will be imprisonment. Third will be death!"

And with one statement, the whole village who were so vocal in hating Naruto for what he carried hated him in silence. Contented with this temporary sort of solution, he proceeded to plan Naruto's future.

Naruto's mother died during his birth. He has no brothers nor sisters. He was an orphan… a very rich orphan, actually. Yondaime had left him a large fortune… but not trusting anyone with the funds, the Third handled it himself. He placed Naruto in the care of an orphanage run by a friend of his for a few years.

In the 10 years that Naruto grew up, he was met with the cold glaring eyes of the villagers as he went out of the open. He knew he was silently hated by the villagers. At first, he had paid no mind. After all, a 5 year old child didn't know anything except helping the caretaker buy food and supplies for the orphanage. But as the years grew, he suddenly began to feel… a very strong emotion… something he couldn't describe.

He would hear them whisper at times, while looking at him with those cold eyes. He didn't like it. It annoyed him. It was the exact opposite of what the caretaker usually gave him. Warmth, genuine concern of the boy's well being… but the old caretaker was really annoying most of the time. He made him clean halls, scrub toilets, and buy food.

There were only a few kids in the orphanage with him, and they all acted a bit indifferent to him. They didn't like him, that was a given, and he never knew why. Must be because the caretaker seemed to treat him like a servant that the kids there thought he was lower than them.

When Naruto was 9, the caretaker died. When that happened, a few jounins had come for him, telling him that he was being transferred. It confused him at first, not knowing where he was being taken. They brought him in a furnished apartment, and left him there without a word. In that apartment, he found an envelope on top of the table. Inside that envelope, he found money inside, and a letter stating he'd been accepted by the Ninja Academy and classes was starting next month. His surprise turned to shock.

Inside the Hokage Tower, the Third Hokage was peering inside a glass ball, watching Naruto with a smile. He had provided the place for him to stay, also pulled a few strings for Naruto to get in the Academy. It wasn't really that hard, after all, he was Hokage… but he frowned at the way Naruto lived his life. The people still looked at him with cold eyes. Some things never changed.

He would have thought that the younger generation would at least offer their palm of friendship at him… but it seemed the villager's cold attitude affected them a bit. He silently theorized that inside their homes, the parents lectured the kids to stay away from 'that Boy'. Naruto found himself alone all his life… or so he thought.

Something changed now. Instead of one soul inside him as it was widely known, there were two. The seal was never meant to seal more than one soul inside and it had an interesting effect on Naruto.

When the whole world seemed to fail him, he could at least count on two of his private friends; the ever mysterious Laharl-nisan, and the ever angry, and always spouting death-threats Kyubi-nichan.

**

* * *

Demon Eyes Laharl **

** Kyubi **

** And Uzumaki Naruto in **

**- The Uzumaki Naruto Ninja Chronicles -**


	2. Sacrifice! Naruto's New Powers!

Naruto took heavy breathes. Holding his arm, his eyes were close and his mouth was unmoving. That was quite a rare site, especially people who knew Naruto. There were two types. The first type was the 'Understanding Type', those who frankly listen to what he has to say. Then there is the 'Annoyed Type', those who shout at Naruto for even talking to him/her. They were also people who tended to shout at him every time he was confused.

Add this as a chapter for his self named 'Uzumaki Naruto Ninja Chronicles'. In that autobiography in which Naruto hid from everyone, even Iruka-sensei, he had written a few interesting things in it. He had this idea ever since Laharl suggested it after he battled with Gaara of the Sand. At first, he thought he'd put his techniques and attack there… but looking back, Naruto knew that he didn't have enough 'original' moves to put there.

Other than sexy no Jitsu, and Harem no Jitsu he had no other original Jutsus… even the Rasengan was something the Fourth and ero-sennin had been using from a long time already. So, instead of moves, he made his chronicles more about his life. Anything useless, funny, depressing, or somewhat enlightening he'd write it down. Right now, all he had in his mind was 'Annoyed Type' and 'Understanding Type'. He laughed silently.

_Naruto… are you okay? _

"I'm alright… Laharl-nisan…" Naruto whispered. He did that in instinct, since he could have replied mentally. The first time he replied mentally to his spiritual brother and sister, they almost went deaf with too much information. It was funny… as much as the mouth spouted out, it was actually filtering things his mind could say. Laharl once said one word Naruto speaks, his mind says 10 different things.

**_BAKA! BE CAREFUL! IF YOU DIE, WE ALL DIE! Ooooh… If I had the ways to remove the seal… I'm gonna POUND YOU AND LAHARL slowly, and eat you, swallow and let you suffer slowly as I digest you both!_**

"Eh, eh, alright, Kyuubi-nichan…" Naruto could only whisper the reply. He had been living with those kinds of threats for almost 10 years, after hearing those voices in his head when he was 3 years old. How freaked out he was at that time, hearing two voices arguing in his head.

_Shut it, fox girl! Naruto… get ready. He's coming!_

Naruto could only curse, and slowly stood up, and went to ready position. After a few minutes, he saw a raven haired boy charging at him, black marks appearing all over his face, and on his right hand was glowing a bit. Sasuke was coming at him once again.

**(Entrance song: Bullet by Covenant)**

**- The Uzumaki Naruto Ninja Chronicles - **

**Sacrifice! Naruto's New Powers! **

According to the Uzumaki Naruto Ninja Chronicles (now hereby known as UNNC), Uchiha Sasuke was a cold bastard. He was the number one rookie the year Naruto graduated at the Academy, and over all annoying person. He was also the one Sakura liked. He had this stupid Sharingan which almost made everything he did almost like… well, cheating.

Sasuke was the last person he wanted on his team. Always calling him a moron, and calling him scaredy cat, when Sasuke-baka himself was a scaredy cat. And he acts so cool that its almost sickening.

Well, that's what's written in the 'Uchiha Sasuke' chapter. There was also a picture of Sasuke looking all serious, who was actually Naruto who used a henge and had someone take the picture. After all, knowing Sasuke, he'd just ignore him and not help him get his picture.

The later chapters, you'll see that the Uchiha Sasuke Chapter wasn't really the be all and end all of Naruto's opinion of the boy. After all, a few missions together with him, Sakura and Kakashi, he seemed to appreciate the raven haired boy. They both fought Haku in Wave Country, they fought together in the Forest of Death… although you can see annoyance, there was also a dab of respect in the writings.

Naruto surpassed Sasuke in terms of knowledge of Jitsus. He had Rasengan, Summoning no Jutsu, and the Kage Bushin at his side, which are considered as one of the most difficult and powerful techniques to do. But Sasuke had another advantage over Naruto, and which was above average taijitsu, and the cursed seal. The curse seal increased Sasuke's current power levels to almost three times, especially when Sasuke was in Level 2, with two hand like wings in his back acting as shields for attacks Naruto could send on his way. One would silently would wonder what the fan girls would like better; the evil looking, yet very mature looking Level 2 Sasuke, or the original recipe pretty boy Sasuke?

Naruto jumped towards the left and felt a rush of air as Sasuke passed through him. He was about to make the seals for the Kage Bushin no Jitsu when he heard a voice behind him.

"Too slow, dobe." Naruto's eyes widened and turned his head. He saw a fist coming to his face, and hit him with a sickening impact. Naruto flew towards the stone mountain and he shouted as he felt his insides shake at the impact as he hit the stone wall. The world began to spin.

"I'm not done yet!" Sasuke shouted as the fully formed Chidori and charged towards Naruto. The blonde boy's eyes widened and his eyes reflected Sasuke's face as he was already in front of Naruto, and the Chidori was going to hit him. Naruto moved slightly towards the left, trying to dodge the lightning arm which was going to stab him in the heart.

He wasn't fast enough, but was able to dodge a fatal strike to the heart. But in exchange, his right chest was stabbed and blood was pouring in his lungs. He couldn't even shout anymore in pain, his eyes widening.

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Inside the mind of Naruto, Laharl looked aghast. "Oh shit… Sasuke got us pinned!" he said.

The fox girl snarled. Staring at the part-demon fox boy, she wondered if he couldn't state anything unobvious. Everything he said, if not helpful, was something repetitive and obvious that it was annoying. With a swift motion, she grabbed Laharl's neck and squeezed slowly. "Shut up… I'm thinking!"

Laharl didn't seem to be intimidated by her. She was always like this, ever since they were stuck in behind a large cage with a piece of paper seal to hold them. It kinda scared him first, but the fear left when he found out surprisingly, after 6 hours of Kyuubi strangling him, he didn't feel anything except probably the feeling of tightness on his neck. He smirked a bit, poked her in her neck.

"Kyuubi-chan, release me, or my finger is going lower," he smirked. The fox girl snarled louder this time. She slowly released him, and decked him hard across the face. The boy flew and hit the cage wall hard, but stood up like nothing had happened… well, he was rubbing his cheek rather softly.

"Just shut up, Laharl," Kyuubi replied. She looked back at the 61' television which showed the world through Naruto's eyes. Sasuke there, smiling a bit. He seemed to speak.

"You avoided a direct hit to your heart," Sasuke said. "But it's over. You should feel blood in your lungs… you're slowly drowning… but its not a death worthy of you. You deserve a fast death."

Sasuke removed his hands. Kyuubi smiled. This was it. Closing her eyes, red energy surrounded her whole body, and whispered slowly… "Come on you stupid boy, beat him."

-----------

Naruto's eyes widened when he suddenly felt en enormous power surge within him. He smiled. 'Kyuubi-nichan… thank you…' he thought. He shouted as he forced his legs to move, and kicked Sasuke hard on the gut. The boy grunted as he felt the air taken out of him, and released the blonde boy as he flew backwards and hit the water.

'What the fuck…?' Sasuke thought. Slowly, he stood up and looked at the blonde boy, who was in his all fours, his teeth shown. The raven haired boy was taken aback. Naruto was surrounded with a red chakra, and gave him an eerie image of a rabid fox. The blonde boy's hands had claws and his teeth had fangs, and his eyes… red and almost demonic eyes with slits for pupils.

"Naruto… what are you?" Sasuke stared at him with cold, and somewhat angry eyes.

"Sasuke… you're coming back with me…" Naruto said in a soft monotone. Bending his body a bit, he suddenly dashed towards Sasuke and let the raven haired boy meet the knuckles of his fist.

Sasuke gasped, surprised, but went to a state of calmness as he remembered that even if Naruto somehow gained a heck a lot of chakra, he can still predict his movements thanks to the Sharingan. In his mind's eye, he could see the shadows of Naruto as he moved, predicting his next movements.

'But damn… he's faster than before!' Sasuke thought as he dodged the punch Naruto gave him. His Sharingan predicted the movement perfectly, but to his surprise, he saw the chakra from Naruto's punching arm separate and acted almost like an extra limb. It was claw shaped, and swiped towards Sasuke's head. He reacted quickly, and barely dodged the claw swipe as it grazed his arms.

Sasuke back flipped a few times, and went a few meters away from Naruto, his hand holding his somewhat injured shoulder. He took a look at it, and was surprised to see no injury, yet it hurt like a bitch. It was like Neji's "Soft Fist" style, and yet not at the same time.

"Sasuke…" Naruto said in a low monotone as well. It was like he was possessed... "I'm bringing back… even if I have to break your legs to do it."

Sasuke stared at the blonde boy, and frowned. "You are special, Naruto… but… I am more special than you…" he whispered the last part as he unleashed his Level 2.

Naruto paused as he watched in a kind of horrific awe as Sasuke's whole body was covered in black as the whole cursed seal began to have an effect on the raven haired boy. The end result is the evil looking Sasuke, Level 2. His whole body was black, and there was an X-mark of sorts netween his eyes. He also had dull black-bright red eyes.

"Sasuke… what the hell happened to you?" Naruto asked, his red slit eyes wide in surprise.

"Surprise, Naruto?" Sasuke replied. "This is the power given to me by Orochimaru. This is why I have to leave you. I got my own path to follow. I have to be strong enough to kill him…"

"Leave…? To Orochimaru?" Naruto asked through gritted teeth. "Sasuke, wake up! You think he'd give you this much power for free?! Do you know what he plans with you? He's going to use you for his own ambition! That includes the destruction of Konoha! Our home!"

"Konoha was once my home… but not anymore," Sasuke glared. He lifted is right fist, and chakra began to form there. It sparkled blue, electrical blue, as Sasuke got ready to deploy his chidori. Naruto bent his knees, and got ready.

Silence followed, as Sasuke and Naruto glared at each other, waiting… assessing… calculating. Finally, Naruto lost patience, and charged towards Sasuke with almost unnerving speed, his legs powered by Kyuubi's chakra. Normally, Sasuke, although he might have followed the movement and predicted it with his Sharingan, he wasn't fast enough to dodge it. But now that he was in Level 2, they were more or less on even grounds in speed and strength. What determines the winner will be skill, tactics, and a little bit of luck.

Naruto gave a wicked punch towards Sasuke, who dodged the fist nimbly, and countered with a sideward kick towards the blonde's ribs. Naruto gritted his teeth as the kick caught him, but quickly grabbed the opposing leg, and gave his own counter, and gave a very powerful kick across his chest, letting the boy fly.

Sasuke was taken aback by the attack. It seems the moron had some skills… and a lot of fight in him. He landed on his feet, clutching his chest, trying to take in a few breathes. The kick drove the air out of his lungs, and also made it a bit hard to breath. Sasuke had a suspicion that if he wasn't currently on Level 2, the kick would have knocked him out. He smiled. This was fun.

Without a word, Sasuke dashed towards Naruto, made a feint punch towards his face, in which the blonde boy fell for completely as Sasuke kicked Naruto hard on the stomach. Normally, Naruto would have been sent back, but powered up by his fox sister, he stood his ground, and returned the favor by punching Sasuke directly in his face.

That's how the whole fight becomes. An exchange of blow after blow, each of the antagonists giving powerful blows to each other, and no one seemed fazed. It was like they were both on a super wonder drug that keeps them up in days… weeks… months… and years without sleeping.

Naruto was the first one to be sent back, but only by a step, and continued to exchange more blows with Sasuke. He hit him in the head, gut, and got a kick somewhere in Sasuke's defenses, making the raven haired boy back up a step as well, but countered with three punches, and a nice head butt. Those also didn't seem to have no effect as Naruto pressed with the assault.

Sasuke growled. It was getting him nowhere in trying to beat the dobe's ass down… it was like trying to beat the crap out of solid steel and making it shout out to submission (which will never happen because steel don't shout). He formulated a plan while Naruto continued to attack in full force. Sasuke was forced to be on defensive, giving a false message to Naruto that he was winning, and got careless. He began to put even more power to his punches, but it caused him imbalance every time Sasuke was able to dodge them. That gave the raven haired boy his chance!

Sasuke smirked inwardly as he slowed his movements, and painfully blocked 5 punches from the blonde demon carrier, giving false pretenses that he was getting weaker. Naruto, in reply, made his punches stronger. Sasuke smirked when he finally saw his chance, and dodged the haymaker Naruto sent to his way. The fist missed its target, and threw the boy off balance, leaving him open to the launching kick of Sasuke.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise as he was launched up in the air with his chin bursting in pain, and saw Sasuke appearing right behind him; he knew what was going to happen as he had seen this before. Naruto tried to move, but it was almost impossible, with the pain in his chin, and no leverage in the air. All he could do is watch where Sasuke could attack him, his mind revising the movements and sequence of the Shi-Shi Rendan.

Sasuke's shoulders shifted, and punched Naruto cleanly on his right ribs. Naruto, through the pain, very correctly assumed that his left side was the next target… but he didn't notice that instead of a punch to his left ribs, it was a kick on his left leg, shifting his body a bit. Sasuke spun in the air, and delivered the final kick to Naruto's gut, driving out the air out of his lungs, and send him to the world of unconsciousness.

Naruto landed on the shallow water with a painful splash. Sasuke smiled as he found himself the perfect opportunity to be able to be a step closer in killing Itachi… to kill his closest friend… powering up his Chidori, Sasuke let gravity do its work as he aimed directly towards the unconscious blonde boy's heart. That was it. No matter how much damage Naruto can take, once the heart is destroyed, it will all be over. Naruto won't even feel it. A clean death, for a close friend.

"I win…" he whispered to himself.

----------

"NARUTO! NARUTO! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" Kyuubi called out towards the boy. She really couldn't do anything, with the seal in place. All she could do was watch in horror as Sasuke was now in the air, about to finish the boy off.

Laharl's face didn't seem to change, but his scarf hid the his mouth and gritting teeth. "Dammit… Kyuubi, give him more Chakra!" he stated, panicking.

"I could if it would help!" Kyuubi said, frowning sadly. "It's useless if I give him more Chakra… Especially when he's unconscious… its over… its all over…"

"What do you mean its all over you stupid fox?!" Laharl snarled. "You giving up?!"

"WELL IT WOULD BE A LOT BETTER IF YOU WERE THERE TO HELP ME, YOU STUPID LITTLE WEAK HALF-LING!" Kyuubi shouted.

Laharl's eyes widened, and his head bowed. Kyuubi immidietly regretted what she shouted and hugged the young man… "Wait… I'm sorry Laharl…! I… I just said it… it didn't mean anything!" she apologized profusely. "Look… just help me think of a plan… we can do it, right?"

Laharl didn't reply, his eyes roaming around. In the mind of Naruto Uzumaki, time is not a factor. The outside world can freeze in time for all they cared as it didn't affect them. It also makes one wonder… what would Philosophers say about this… a boy with two different minds thinking in his mind? They'd probably admit him to the asylum.

Laharl looked at the 61 inch television again, and frowned. Sasuke was bearing down on them, the chidori going straight for the kill. Kyuubi can't do anything anymore since Naruto was knocked out unconscious… which leaves them with only one thing. He smiled a bit sadly. It was fun… but now…

Kyuubi felt as suddenly a hand grab her breasts. She blinked. She felt the hand move from her left breast to her right breast… and going down… it moved to her tummy… and was still going down. Her forehead now had a twitch mark.

"LAHARL YOU FUCKING PERVERT!!!" she screamed, and glowed red with rage. Cocking her glowing fist, she sent him flying. As her punch landed squarely on the boy's cheek, he gave out a small devious smile, and flew away towards the cage.

Kyuubi's eyes widened as she realized what he did… he moved his hand all over his body to make her angry, powering herself with chakra. Then, he left himself open to her punch, making him fly towards the bars of their cage… just like the time Naruto fought Haku. "LAHARL! DON'T!!!" she screamed.

Too late, as Laharl vanished in a white light, his smile never leaving his face.

-----------

"I win…" Sasuke whispered to himself, as he was a few meters away from Naruto. The chidori will stab through the blonde boy's heart, and he'd be a step closer to kill his brother.

Naruto seemed to have awaken, because suddenly, his eyes went open. His red, slit eyes seem to bore directly into Sasuke as the black haired boy suddenly found himself staring at them… a shiver passed his spine. Something was wrong… really wrong, he could feel it.

But nothing seemed to be wrong as he still continued to fall. He blinked a bit… Naruto's eyes were closed. He was still unconscious… must have been his imagination. With that in mind, Sasuke finally drove his fist to stab Naruto's heart.

Naruto didn't scream as his whole body went dead after the heart was punctured. Naruto's death was painless as Sasuke had predicted. He closed his eyes… He did it… he was finally a step towards revenge… he opened his eyes… he blinked.

He was surrounded by the townspeople of Konoha. He blinked. They were all staring at him in cold eyes… they were also taller than him… it was like they towered him. They began to whisper…

"That's him…" "Stupid evil kid… He'd better be off dead…" "Don't! The Third favors him…"

Sasuke felt a pang of sudden depression. The way the people were staring at him… weren't they the same people who had smiles in their faces as he talked to them when he was young? Suddenly, he heard one of them shout…

"Now here comes the real hero of Konoha!" "Hai! The survivor of the tragic Uchiha Clan!"

_Nani?! _Sasuke thought, shocked. He turned to where the villagers were pointing. Lo' and Behold… there he saw himself… Sasuke Uchiha… but just a few years younger. He watched in a daze as he saw himself with the usual cold expression as he walked without a care in the world. The girls began to flock around the young Sasuke, and he just ignored them as usual.

"He's the role model of youth…" "Have you heard? He's been nominated as the number 1 Academy student in all his levels!" "He's a certifiable genius, like that Hyuuga…" "Unlike some people I know…"

The villagers stared once again at Sasuke with their cold eyes. The raven haired boy was taken aback. The villagers looked really scary… and so hateful. What did he do? And why… why is there another Sasuke? That's it! The younger Sasuke is a fake! He's going to prove to the whole village that he was the real Sasuke!

Dashing towards the younger Sasuke, he was about to punch when suddenly, someone grabbed him… and began to beat him.

"He was going to harm Sasuke!" "How dare he!" "You stupid brat! Don't you dare touch him!!!"

Sasuke couldn't scream as he felt the villagers rain down their rage on him, kicking him, punching him, beating him… Sasuke couldn't seem to do anything as he just covered his ehad and went to a fetal position, screaming for help. He felt helpless… felt… weak. Pain on his side… on his head… his arms… his legs…

Then everything stopped… as the pain faded away. Sasuke blinked… and stood up. No longer was he in the streets as before… but near the stream. He stood up… looked around. He was in the place near Konoha village. He stared at his hands. It was all bruised up.

_What… happened? The villagers… they beat me up… they hated me… and there is another me…?! _Sasuke thought in panic. He went towards the stream to wash away the dirt on his hands, and probably on his face as well. He reached the water, and looked at his reflection before he dove his hand in the water. He paused. He removed his hands from the water, and looked at his hands… and back to his reflection.

His hair was blonde… he had whisker marks on his face… his eyes… were wide in surprise. Not only that… but it was also blue. He backed away, his eyes widening in shock. "N… NO!" he mumbled… and found himself aghast as he heard Naruto speak, not him! His voice's was Naruto's! "It's… IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!! NO!"

Sasuke felt chakra being used above him… and he saw himself… Sasuke Uchiha Level 2 with the chidori, coming down to him. He couldn't move… he couldn't breath. His own face came closer and closer to him… that neutral cold face… the sparking electric chidori bearing down on him… the sounds it made… 'chi chi chi chi chi chi chi chi…' until finally, Sasuke stabbed him in the heart...

"That's just one minute…"

Everything faded. Sasuke found himself breathing deeply, looking at his own Level 2 reflection in the water, his hand out stabbing the water. His eyes were wide with confusion, and fear. He was placed somewhere he never expected… nor did he expected to suddenly be rip out of it. He looked up… and saw Naruto staring at him, his red eyes smiling knowingly… evilly? His mouth… it was different from the usual smile the blonde boy had. It was… predatory like.

"Had a good dream, Sasuke?" Naruto asked him.

"W… what the… hell was that?!" Sasuke said in between breaths. His heart was racing. He felt out of place in the world where he was…

"Its… lets say my bloodline ability," Naruto said, thinking of a reply. "I guess… I awoke them just now. Like it?"

"I… I saw… myself as you…" Sasuke replied… his limbs felt numb… pain from supposedly being beaten up by the villagers.

"I had thought… it would serve you as a reminder," Naruto replied, shrugging.

"Reminder to what?!" Sasuke demanded. He didn't like the feeling… he felt as he had been ripped from two realities… and not figure out which reality he really belonged to. It was like a high level Sharingan skill (in which he still has no knowledge how to use it) except that it felt a little bit more disturbing.

"On how stupid you are," Naruto replied simply. Sasuke glared at him. "What?" Naruto asked.

"Excuse me…?!" Sasuke asked coldly. "Stupid?! Me?"

"Yes… considering the fact of your actions as of late," Naruto replied.

Sasuke had to blink. This was not something Naruto would normally say. What the hell is going on here?! "Nani…?!"

"You, running away from Konoha, to go to Orichimaru, the same person who had invaded Konoha… the same person who had been responsible for the Third's death…" Naruto began. "… is stupid."

"What would you know, dobe?!" Sasuke said through gritted teeth. "What would you know about me?! I'm an avenger! I will join any side, whoever can grant me what I need!"

"Power… to kill a man?" Naruto replied. "Heh… I remembered what you said during our first introductions to Kakashi-sensei. I had thought you were stupid, Sasuke… but now I change my mind. You're a fucking moron… and an ungrateful one."

Sasuke stood up, his fist glowing again as it began powering up with the chidori. "Don't you try and label me, dead last! What would you know about me? NOTHING! I only became friends with you only because of circumstances!"

"So… our time together with Sakura was nothing to you, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, raising an inquiring eyebrow. "We were just… passing people in your exciting life?"

"… no." Sasuke replied, bowing his head a bit. "You… you were a good friends. My closest actually. You and I faced tough situations… faced powerful opponents… learned new skills. But its over. I have my path to take… and my path has nothing to do with you."

"You are selfish, Uchiha Sasuke…" Naruto replied. "I have heard from Ero-sennin… you think Ororchimaru will give you all the power you need for free?! Don't kid yourself. He wants your ability. He's luring you to his territory so that he can switch his existence over yours with this forbidden jutsu."

"I don't care! As long as he gives me the power to kill ITACHI! My brother who WIPED OUT MY WHOLE CLAN!!" Sasuke replied, glaring at him. The chidori was within near completion. "AS long as I CAN KILL HIM… He can have my body for all I CARE!"

"And that makes you stupid," Naruto shot, now is face no more being friendly. His red eyes were now coldly staring at him, and his face… a mask of utter neutrality. "Giving up your life… all for petty revenge. If that was only the case, I'd have pitied you. I too, can understand how you feel. We grew up almost the same… no family… loneliness… but there is one difference between you and me…"

Sasuke looked at him, ready to strike. "What?"

"I am grateful of my life. I am thankful for every breath I take… even if I had more of a reason to betray the whole village!" Naruto snarled, and grabbed a few kunais and throwing stars from his pocket. He put them in his hand, and suddenly closed it, seeming crushing his sharp ninja tools. A red light escaped from his hands as he opened them once more… but instead of kunais and throwing stars… he held a handful of red scalpels.

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise. He began to step back, away from Naruto.

"For the time I grew up, I saw nothing but hate and coldness in the villager's eyes. Restaurants wouldn't serve me even if I had money… if I didn't meet the third eating in my favorite Ramen stand, I wouldn't even be eating my favorite food fresh. The whole village despised me… they didn't want me. I had no family… I had no one," Naruto grabbed another handful of throwing stars and made them to scalpels again.

_How does he do that?! _Sasuke thought, seemingly the technique was unable to register in his Sharingan.

"And you… you were the same. Grew up alone… your brother in your head… you probably witnessed him kill everyone? But who cares. GET OVER IT!" Naruto shouted for the first time. "You might have lost your real family… but don't you see a family when it appears? The whole village adored you… they respected you… you were their hero… their proud last member of the Uchiha clan… and this is how you repay them? Betraying them by siding with the enemy?!"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE VILLAGE!" Sasuke shouted, his temper flaring. "ALL I NEED IS POWER! THAT IS ALL I NEED!!! POWER TO KILL HIM!"

"You'll never be able to beat him, Sasuke…" Naruto replied quietly now. "And you know why…? Because you are weak… from here." And Naruto pointed at his own heart with his right arm. On his left… all the scalpels he was able to make, he placed them in his palms, and closed his hand once again. Another red light seemed to escape his hand once again when suddenly, a katana appeared from his hand… a red katana. The hilt… the blade… crimson red.

"… don't call me WEAK!" Sasuke growled as his chidori went back again in full power, as he began to dash towards Naruto. He was going to finish him once and for all!

Nartuo seem to disappear as Sasuke dashed to him, and re-appeared behind him. Sasuke turned his head in surprise. _When did… he get so fast?!_ Sasuke thought as he turned around once more, and made a dash towards Naruto.

"I'll show you why you are weak!" Naruto replied. He held the katana with both hands, and went to the normal kendo position. "I had promised Sakura I'd bring you back… but not only that, I also made a promise to myself that I'm going to be the Hokage… and that won't happen if I let Orochimaru take you… but most importantly…"

Naruto close his eyes, smiling. Sasuke was still dashing towards him, intent to kill him.

"I am doing this for you're lousy existence… I believe that a man has choices he has to make… you can rot and throw away your body for all I care… but… as a friend… I can't allow that." Naruto opened his eyes. "Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu… KUZU RYU SEN!"

Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw Naruto dash towards him, and split into nine… at first, he'd have thought Naruto used the Kage Bushin… but the movement was… too fluid… too much identical for another body to act the same way… The last thing he saw was nine pointed red katanas coming at him, and ending with a flash of a bright red light.

Sasuke flew, and landed on his back… his limbs… he couldn't feel them. His chest felt like it was slammed with something hard. And his head… was spinning. What just happened confused the hell out of him. Naruto… just beat him! In Level 2?! And he used a move he never saw before!! He suddenly buckled. He wanted to move… he didn't want to be defeated!

"Don't move, baka," Naruto's voice called. "I hit all your nine vital parts… you wont be able to move for a while."

"I… I can't… lose to you…!!!" Sasuke declared. He tried to move again, but no avail. He could only helplessly feel the power fade away from him.

"You lost… way before you met me. You lost… when you wanted to go to Orochimaru in your own free will. You lost… when you said you didn't care anymore," Naruto's voice rang. "A man who throws his life away for stupid reasons is a man who will always lose."

Sasuke didn't reply as he his vision began to fade. Soon… he lost his consciousness. Naruto smiled, and looked at his hands. His red katana… its been a long time since he last saw them… and probably the last as he suddenly felt drained… he gritted his teeth. His katana broke to pieces of red scalpels, and seemingly… was absorbing to him. The scalpels went inside him, and faded away from sight.

Naruto gave a final breath… and fell down. His vision began to fade… and also went unconscious. The waterfall began to rage on, and two unconscious leaf nins were there, lying next to each other. Up in the treetops, Kakashi feared he was too late… and rushed down check them.

-----------

"Ugh…" Laharl declared as he grabbed one of the bars. He was currently outside of the sealed prison, and inside, he saw Kyuubi's wide eyes. "Hey… K… Kyuubi…"

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!!" Kyuubi shouted, tears forming in her eyes. "GET IN HERE! BEFORE YOU…"

"It's… too late…" Laharl declared. "I've lost too much energy… I'm fading…"

He showed his hands… it was semi-transparent. He smiled a bit. It was probably the stupidest thing he ever did. Going through the seal meant that he would have the seal drain out all his power. After all, it was the one of the purposes of the seal inside Naruto. To absorb the chakra of what's sealed inside, and integrated into the system.

Theoretically, just being outside the cage would have absorbed him completely… but since he absorbed some chakra from Kyuubi when she punched him, he was still able to control Naruto's body with enough time to beat Sasuke.

Of course… he had stayed too long. He was now being sucked out of his energy… he was being assimilated… combined with Naruto… but not with his terms. Most probably he could give his powers… but memories… and skills…

_Damn it… Aaron, I hope you felt my presence here… _Laharl thought.

"Laharl…?" Kyuubi asked.

"Hehe…" Laharl laughed softly. "I'm sorry Kyuubi-chan… it seems I'm going away for a while…"

The fox girl wiped her eyes, smiling sadly. "Baka… you were too long in controlling Naruto…"

"Of course," Laharl smiled. "Would you wanted to be killed?"

Silence reigned for a while. Laharl's face was starting to fade now, his legs vanished, and his upper torso is already almost transparent. For a while, Kyuubi could only bring her head down. She wanted to provide a solution so Laharl wouldn't have to die.

"Kyuubi…"

"Laharl…?" she looked up.

"Promise me, Kyuubi," Laharl stared at her, serious. "Promise me… that you'll give your full support to Naruto…"

" … I promise…" Kyuubi nodded, serious as well. "I promise."

Laharl smiled. "You've been a great friend… Kyuubi-chan. My last gift…"

Using his remaining energy he broke every third of the bars in the cage. Kyuubi looked surprised suddenly as she found herself with a bit more freedom as the seal weakened a bit. With the breaking of the bars, it would increase the flow rate of energy between Naruto and her.

"Tell Naruto… that… he's going to be a lot different when he wakes up," Laharl said, nodding one last time as he finally began to fade away. He gave a last wink. "See ya around, oh great Kyuubi-chan…"

As Laharl faded from existence… Kyuubi could only cry out as one of her only friends faded from her sight.

-----------

In the real world… Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, Neji, Kiba and Akamaru, Lee, and the three Sand Nins returned to Konoha, having completed the mission successfully. But… unknown to them, Naruto was beginning to change. A metamorphosis of Naruto's body began, slowly and silently, unnoticed by everyone. By the time the changes were done… not even the number one hyperactive ninja would be saying anything to explain it.

**To Be Continued**

**NEXT: A mysterious figure comes to Konoha… and it has to do with Naruto's new powers! What will others react to Naruto's new look and power? How will Naruto react? Coming up, next!!**


	3. Curious! Mystery in Play!

"WHERE IS SASUKE!" Orochimaru screamed as his hands began to throb once again in almost unbearable pain. The last curse given to him by the Third was now beginning to kill him.

Theoretically, Orochimaru shouldn't be dying, after all, only the soul of his arms was taken. But the nature of a soul is some what of a brittle glass; even if you cut up only a small part of it, everything else cracks, and soon, everything breaks down. There was a solution, and that was to transfer the mind of Orochimaru to another body who still has a whole healthy soul.

Sasuke Uchiha was his main prize… the last of the Uchiha Clan with the ever famous Sharingan Eyes, which would allow the Jutsu-hungry snake man to be able to learn all Jutsus easily… in a faster and more cooler way.

Laharl had already overheard Ero-sennin and Tsunade-baachan and their talks with Orochimaru. He was quite… 'mentally' vocal on how Orochimaru must have been stupid that he'd need to use some eyes just to learn jitsus, instead of reading them, or experimenting yourselves. Ninja techniques use hand seal sequences and chakra… and there are limitless possibilities and sequences of seals, so in short, there are infinite jitsus in which you can't just memorize. Besides… with so many techniques, how in the world will you be able to fight effectively?

Kabuto, the medic-nin lapdog of Orochimaru (and was acknowledged by Tsunade mentally that he was a bit better than her at her prime) tried to keep his master calm. It's been already 30 minutes passed due for the predicted arrival time of the Uchiha kid, and Orochimaru had to hold on to his useless body until the boy arrived. Kabuto knew that his master wouldn't like the news one last bit. He had just received word.

"Orochimaru-sama… the 'Mission' was a failure… some genins from Konoha, plus with the help of the three Sand Nins were able to intercept the team before they crossed the border… they got Sasuke back," Kabuto said quietly.

A short silence followed, the snake man still trying to understand what Kabuto just told him. It took him a while… "NANI!"

For the first time in Orochimaru's life, a perfect plan had failed him… big time. Instead of Sasuke, Orochimaru was forced to transfer his mind, his existence had to go for another human… a rather strong one too, who survived an all out bloody battle royal that Kabuto prepared to see which one was worthy of being the new body of the snake man.

Orochimaru wasn't really pleased. He could feel his arms again after the mind transfer, but now, he has to wait for three years before he can transfer again. And Sasuke was nowhere near his grasp, now being recaptured to that stupid excuse of a ninja village… He had underestimated them… but he had hoped that by this time, he'd get his most prized possession… the last of the Uchiha clan.

Now it was impossible. With Sasuke in the village… he'd either be executed for running away the villagers to him, the main enemy of Konoha. If not, Sasuke would be lucky to just even be outside his house, especially with the 'no joke, real deal' 'Super Sucker' Fifth Hokage, Tsunade.

"Orochimaru-sama… there is more," Kabuto whispered softly. "Sasuke had completed the metamorphosis, and is able to use the Level 2… but was stopped by the Kyubi carrier, Uzu…"

"Uzumaki… Naruto…" Orochimaru hissed.

**(Song: Bullet by The Covenant) **

**- The Uzumaki Naruto Ninja Chronicles -**

**- Curious! Mystery in Play- **

According to the UNNC, Laharl and Kyubi is his first and probably only family. He had first met them when he was 3 years old, when after a sudden pain on his abdomen, he found two voices arguing. One was male, soft spoken, and somewhat insulting, and the other is a female, strong willed, and really has a bad potty mouth. Almost all the swear words Naruto knew weren't even half of what Kyubi would use.

It took at least 3 weeks for Naruto to convince himself he wasn't going crazy, and that he had two souls sealed inside him. Naruto had more or less got comfortable with Laharl first, since Laharl was a guy, and particularly showed him enough care. Pains of the heart by the cold stares of the Konoha Villagers were eased by him (Kyubi was never a help, always kept on shouting "KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL THOSE FUCKING WHORE ASS MOTHERFUCKING BASTARDS!"), and some helpful advice on school had made Naruto get through a day for ten years.

Naruto, contrary to popular belief, wasn't a cheerful, happy go lucky child. He was suicidal… well, almost. Most of the time, he was depressed, suffering, even if he was eating ramen. Laharl was the one who helped him through his feelings, sorting them out, giving out 'brotherly advice'. Although… there are times when Laharl would sometimes be unpredictable, and like a strict teacher, he would suddenly shout in Naruto's mind whenever something stupid was being done by the blonde boy.

Naruto could count the times that happened though. Laharl rarely shouted… the first time he ever heard him shout was when he was about to run away from Zabusa during their assignment to protect the annoying drunk, yet very hardworking, and courageous bridge builder Tazuna. There was also the time when he heard him shout while he was fighting Haku. And then, the time he was…

Well, you get the picture. Laharl was his back-up, his electric blanket to the coldness of the villagers who obviously, even if silently hated him. But… it doesn't mean Kyubi was useless, oh no. While Laharl became his emotional support, Kyubi was his physical. His fox sister had the famed Absolute Chakra, which literally meant 'a battery that will last hella lot longer than the Final Energizer'. Wounds, sickness, poison, you name it, as long as the chakra flow in his system weren't disconnected, she would heal him. A powerful opponent out to kill him? No problem. Just a dab of the special nine tail fox chakra, Naruto becomes the Incredible Hulk!

Well… its not as easy at it sounds, really. There is a limit to Chakra Kyubi can give him. If she gives something beyond that limit, the cells will break down, and might kill Naruto off. Laharl had named it 'Oversurge' and it was stuck with that name ever since, much to Kyubi's annoyance. She wanted a more elegant name, a name that was found in the dictionary. Oh… she came up with 'Overenergized'. So much for something found in the book of normal words.

But now… sadly, Laharl would be leaving his mark in that world only through Naruto. After all, only just a few minutes since landing on the Naruto World he had his soul taken out of his body. He had no heir… either in that world, or his home world. Naruto would be the only one that carried Laharl's powers. No one else. But fret not, for the future will be bright as a sunny day covered in clouds in a thunderstorm.

Speaking of thunderstorms… one is about to pass to Konoha… searching for the Legacy of Laharl.

-

A mysterious figure dressed in a black thick heavy coat walked in the thick forest of the fire Country, destination, Konoha. He was a on a mission, a person with a promise t uphold. His features weren't really recognizable under the black coat. His head was covered by a black hood from the coat.

The only distinguishable feature was probably the straw bag on his back. It is roughly the size of an ordinary gym bag, but made to a backpack, and seemed to poke in a few places. It didn't look that filled up, really… but still had those poking… pokey… thingies… well, whatever.

He kept quiet, his movements didn't seem to disrupt anything. Hell, he even walked towards a flock of feeding birds, all they did was move around him, not alarmed at all by his presence. And he in turn, didn't seem to mind them. It was… as if they had an understanding.

Why was he here? Well… he had felt the 'Presence'. The word Presence here is used as a term of energy recognition. Like DNA, an individual has different energy signatures. That is also true to all lifeforms, whether human, animal, plant, demons, and the works. And a few days early, he felt the second energy signature of his…

He paused. He wondered how he'd view 'him'. A friend? Well, they were friends… except that he's really stupid, dumb, tactless, not to mention perverted. An enemy? They fought lots of times… although that baka-yarou cheats with the stupid Demon Eyes. In the end, he just shrugged. Friend, acquaintance, enemy, whatever. He continued on his way, doing what he had promised to 'him'.

-

To Konoha, they just witnessed a group of Gennins and one Chuunin make their way back, accompanied by Kakashi carrying the unconscious Naruto and Sasuke in his shoulders. A feat of strength, considering his small lean build. But then again, if he could go toe to toe with Gai, it's not really surprising.

With them were the three sand-nins which were more or less responsible to the attack on the village a few months ago. As much as wary as the villagers were to the three sand-nins, it was nothing compared to the looks they all gave to Kakashi… or so most of them thought.

"Hey, Gaara…" Temari whispered softly and nervously, still nervous around Gaara. "The villagers seem to hate that Jounin with silver hair…"

Gaara looked at her with a neutral expression, and didn't reply. He looked at the villagers, and back at Temari. The answer he gave shocked her… and Kankouro. "They aren't glaring at the man… they are glaring at Naruto."

"Nani…?" Kankouro was the first to speak. He had recognized more or less the eyes the villagers were using. It had the same apprehension… disgust… hate that the villagers in the Sand use on Gaara… except there was no fear in their eyes.

"Why would they stare at that blonde kid like that?" Temari asked, not directly concerned for Naruto, but more of curiosity as she too recognized those eyes. Gaara remained silent, not really giving an expression if he knew or not. Temari took his silence as the reply, and looked at the Chuunin who had beaten her in the exam.

Shikamaru no longer had that lazy look in his face. He was in distraught, as he had seen his best friend, Chouji's condition. Chouji and Neji were both on sand stretchers made by your one and only. But the Multi-Size Jitsu user looked different… mainly he was thin. As thin as Shikamaru is.

Neji on the other hand had a gaping hole on his shoulder, and is covered in blood. He practically looked half dead… not a really comforting site for kids. But then again, this is a ninja village… granted, a very peaceful, very WHO like, who are against war… and somehow queasy ninjas who have things about killings and blood, and stuff.

Uchiha Sasuke was back to his normal self, his face in a neutral expression, very much unconscious. The surrounding girls all looked at him with a longing and sad expression. "Is… he dead?" "Oh no… Sasuke-sama!" were a few statements heard.

Naruto looked like he was in pain. And to reality, he was. Inside him, his DNA is being refigured, and his whole system being 'upgraded'. In either case, it was fucking his system, and he was twitching. But no one really noticed, except maybe Gaara, Kakashi, and Tsunade, who was fast approaching.

"Alright, people, get out of the way!" Tsunade declared, as she charged into the group. She first looked at who were injured. She counted all the Konoha ninjas to be injured. The Sand Nins didn't even have a scratch on them. She began to look at those who were seriously injured. She saw Neji, Chouji, Sasuke, and… "Naruto…!"

She went towards Kakashi, and looked at the blonde boy. Without even a word of an order, Kakashi bent down and slowly let Naruto off his shoulder to let Tsunade have a better look at him. The others looked in a curios somewhat disgusted at her actions… the leader, the Hokage of their village favors that… well, stupid little fox bastard more than anyone else noteworthy.

"Oh my god… he's in pain," Tsunade muttered. "Get him to the hospital… no, get everyone there! I'll personally heal them myself if I have to! Now!"

Just a few words… and two sentences. That's all what she needed for people to move. Ain't it grand to be Hokage?

-

Inside the mindscape of Naruto, sobbing sounds could be heard. The blonde boy perked up, his eyes opening at the sound. He looked around. He found himself inside the dark halls again in his mind. He knew where he was. He had visited this place a thousand times already. Nothing was really new… except the crying sounds.

Naruto walked around until he found the big room where the cage was. He peered around. Unlike the dark and dreary halls, the 'Cage Room' as it was affectionately called, it was clean, and brightly lit… well, brighter than the halls. Right now, there was a tone of sadness in it.

Approaching the cage, Naruto was surprised to find out that every third bar of the cage was missing. With accordance to the size of the cage, it gave enough space for Naruto to sneak inside, much to his excitement.

There were years he'd wonder what went inside the cage. As much as he felt close to Laharl and Kyubi, he couldn't shake the fact that he couldn't go inside their home, a.k.a the Cage. Slipping in quietly, he stumbled a bit as he finally went inside, and looked around.

Largely thanks to Laharl, the Cage was divided into three parts. Laharl's Room, Kyubi's Room, and the Common Room. The Common Room was the first room to be seen from outside the cage, and was relatively simple. A nice couch, a La-Z-Boy, and a sixty one inch television, which was usually kept on, except for now, which remained closed.

In the left, it had Laharl's room. In the right, it was Kyubi's… and the source of crying came from that room. Curious as any normal hyperactive and ramen eating boy he was, he slowly went towards Kyubi's room, and stood by the front door. First impression was that it was closed. But if it was closed… why was there a thin line of light coming through its side?

Naruto poked it once. He smiled. It was open! Slowly tiptoeing inside, he slid in the floor like a mouse, and tried to look around. Everything was new to him. Being in the cage was new, going inside Kyubi's room is new, seeing her cry is new…

"Wha…!" Naruto gasped in surprise. He stood up, very shocked at the revelation. He didn't know what to do. His fox sister was a very strong woman, for him. Always shouting curse words, always trying to behead Laharl… hell, she was the nine tailed demon which almost destroyed the whole village! Ain't that badass enough?

But now… well, he couldn't place it. She… seemed broken over something. He walked over to her for a while, seemingly silent because she gave no signs of acknowledgement. He looked at her, concentrated at her, and slowly tapped her shoulders to get her attention.

"Eh… Kyubi-nechan…?" Naruto called out nervously. "You… you okay?"

The fox woman looked at the boy in front of her, and her eyes widened in surprise. She looked at the boy… and kneeled down a bit and stared at him at the eyes. Naruto could only swallow nervously as Kyubi looked at him in a very weird way. He trusted her… after all, she had been one of his companions for almost 10 years. More than a friend, she was family for him… but she's… staring at him in a very weird way.

Naruto began to think the stares that Kyubi had given him before: 1) The Mean Stare, 2) The "I'll Kill You" Stare, 3) "You're Annoying" Stare, and the infamous 4) "YOU DID THAT SEXY NO JITSU AGAIN!" stare. Right now… it was a very, very weird…make that super, hyperactively weird stare.

Her eyes watered, and she suddenly hugged him, and began to affectionately chewing on his ears. Well, it wasn't chew… she didn't use her sharp teeth… nibble was more of an appropriate term, but it was a very rough nibbling. Not only that, but… he felt his spine shake with the action. He couldn't explain it.

But… wait a moment. She was nibbling his ears… but her head was not on his sides. She's doing the action… on top of his head! Naruto looked straight, and saw a tall mirror, which reflected Kyubi's back, and half of his face. He blinked. Was it him… or did his reflection have fox ears! On top of his head! Oh wait… what was that moving behind him…! OMG! Is that… IS THAT A FOX TAIL!

"WHAT THE FUCK…!" Naruto suddenly screamed, the reflection of his red eyes staring back at him with a shocked expression.

-

One of the medic-nins glared hatefully towards Naruto's sleeping form. Tsunade paid no mind, trying to heal the little stuff, likes nicks, scratches and other things which have weirdly found itself in Naruto's body.

Normally, Naruto would come back to missions and training without much physical wounds because of Kyubi. But… now, it didn't seem that the Kyubi's chakra was helping the boy. Tsunade theoretically guessed that the fight against Sasuke had basically exhausted his reserves, maybe even Kyubi's. She had gotten the report out of Shikamaru and Kakashi.

"To what I have seen in the battle field, it seems that the two fought with their all," Kakashi had said, being very serious. "I felt traces of Chakra most likely coming from the Chidori… and the Rasengan. With the damage in the landscape, I believe that both the boys used those techniques against each other."

Shikamaru had nothing much to say. His mouth was still drawling, but his eyes were definitely happy. He cried a bit, after knowing his best friend was going to be fine, and it did a lot good for him. Although not much of a witness in Naruto and Sasuke's fight, he did feel a lot of Chakra being used, but other than that… nothing really.

Tsunade sighed as she sat down beside the bedside of Naruto. She slowly placed her hand on his hair, and began to move her fingers through each strand. Suddenly, something hit her as she stopped doing what she did, and stared at the hair. Was it her… or did it feel finer… silk-like, actually? The last time she felt his hair, it was more of a bundle of hay than anything. Not only that, but he suddenly looked… wrong. His round face is a bit more… well, pointed and smooth. He was definitely looking like…

_The Fourth… _Tsunade thought. She smiled a bit. _Well, well, well, Yondaime. You're legacy is growing up so nicely… although… his blood limit has not yet awakened… _

With the thoughts of Naruto's blood limit, her thoughts went to her ex-companion, Orochimaru. She gritted her teeth. There were times she could curse fate, but then… its not really fate's fault on the relationship between the ex-sennin and Naruto. Or… is it?

Still, something still felt wrong. It wasn't until the last minute, when Kakashi had called her to look at something, did she finally notice. The tips of Naruto's hair were unmistakably getting darker, in a shade of purple. She wondered about that.

-

The shadowed figure walked towards the open gates of Konoha, with a male chunin guarding the front. Nothing really remarkable about the chunin as he looks like your average chunnin… not to mention ugly to boot. But the figure paid no mind. Physical attributes weren't really things he should judge, really. HE continued to walk towards the gate.

"Halt!" the chunnin said, raising his hand up, trying to stop the hooded figure. "This is the Hidden Leaf Village. State the purpose of your visit."

The figure seemed to look up a bit, his features were still hidden. "I have a promise to keep to a friend."

"Who is that friend of yours, stranger?" the gennin asked.

"He goes by the name of Laharl," the hooded figure replied.

The chunnin stood there for a while, thinking a bit. He was well versed with the family names of most clans in the village, and personally knows a few names as well, which is why he was given the job, because he had a semi-photographic memory. Although not much in describing physical appearances, he can memorize the stuff he reads, and the family list of clans in Konoha was one of the few things he read.

After a bit, he looked back up, and said, "I'm sorry, but I have no idea…" he blinked. There was a blank space in front of him, where the hooded figure was standing just a few moments ago.

His eyes widened. He felt panic rise in his system. There was a hooded man who just disappeared in front of him… last time a guard had stopped hooded figures, it turned out to be Itachi and his partner! "Oh shit! Oh shit! Why didn't I remember that before! If I only knew… I'd let him pass! What if he's mad… oh shit! What if he's Itachi! I have to warn the Hokage!"

With that, the chunin turned heel, and ran inside, leaving his post to warn the Hokage. After a few minutes, the hooded figure jumped away from the tree branch he perked on, and snorted.

"Idiot," he stated, and continued to walk inside, now unstopped by the missing guard.

-

Inside the mind of Naruto Uzumaki, we see two figures both together in a rather intimate position. Kyubi, the nine-tailed fox creature, was hugging… or rather comforting the blonde haired (with purple strands) fox kid. It was just a few minutes ago when Naruto was given the most painful news in his life.

He cried there, in her shoulder, very hard. An emotional pitstop, one can say, as Uzumaki Naruto's life was always a hyperactive one. Always on the go, some would say. Either its training, or ramen. Either its there, or here. Either its trying to get a date with Sakura-chan, or to try and beat Sasuke. He was always doing something.

Most would ask why oh why he would be so… hyperactive. Well, one can say that his hyperactivity is because of his loneliness, it was his mask to hide his actual self from the world. Another would say because he is just full of energy, like they fed him cow's milk instead of normal baby milk. Truth to be told… those two theories are… well, rather quite true.

When he was a baby, no lactating woman would want to breast feed him. The Third and his caretaking friend had no choice… but with some help of some scrolls, the Third tried to lessen the effect of the hyperactivity by changing the milk chemicals subtly. Fat chance of it helping, as you see what you get.

The loneliness… that was a bit more understandable. As much as both Laharl and Kyubi treated him like a younger brother/irritating host, they were still only voices in their head. When he was 5, he was able to see them face to face in the depths of his mind, but couldn't approach them, the cage prevented him from crossing.

Now, imagine how happy Naruto might have felt when he was able to get inside the cage to be able to talk with Kyubi and Laharl with, what probably be the closes contact ever in his life. He wanted to hug his older brother, and probably annoy his older sister. He never expected to suddenly have fox ears and fox tails… nor… did he ever imagine… no, dread on hearing what Kyubi told him.

"Laharl… he… merged with the seal," Kyubi had told him.

"Ne… merged?" Naruto asked, blinking, looking at her innocently. "But… isn't that dangerous…? He said so, when he came out to fight Haku. He said the seal was draining him…"

"Naruto-kun… haven't you figured out why you have fox ears…? And fox tails?" Kyubi said slowly. "Nor did you wonder why you have his eyes…?"

It took a while, but Naruto was able to figure it out, and went to a crying fit. Life wasn't fair. Here he was, inside the cage with one member of his surrogate family… and his brother, the person he had looked up to…

"No… I don't believe you!" Naruto wanted to scream again, his fist hitting Kyubi hard in her shoulders. The fox girl didn't have it in her to say anything, really. This is also one of her emotional moments. Her roommate, her only friend… probably her lover is gone. They've been together for almost 14 years… and now… everything has changed.

She hugged Naruto tight, accepting his hits to her. She wanted to act her usual self, but couldn't help it. A very young and kawaii fox boy was in the cage with her, and she wanted to keep him there forever. _Just… just like old times_, she thought rather emotionally, as one of her memorably memories surfaced. _Shiho… if you were still alive… _

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun…" Kyubi whispered softly. "I could wish it wasn't so… but… that's what happened. Laharl didn't want you to die… so… did everything he could to save you."

Naruto gave a sob, and gritted his teeth. "If… if I could only be stronger! I wouldn't have been knocked out and made Laharl-nichan go through the seal!"

"But he did… and he was glad he did," Kyubi said, calmly as she tried. "He did what he wanted to, what he needed to… you couldn't stop him even if you could have…"

Naruto was silent, still crying, trying to calm himself down. "W… what do… we do then?" he asked, stuttering a bit.

"Remember what Laharl would always say…" Kyubi smiled softly. "Live on…"

Live on… those were the words of Laharl to Naruto whenever he had a bad day. Naruto sniffled, and wiped away his few remaining tears. Those words… he first heard them when he was kicked out of the restaurant because he wanted to eat there. He came back to the apartment, in a crying fit. He asked, more to himself, if he will ever be accepted or was it better to just die. Laharl replied.

"**_Live on, baka. Don't pay attention to those idiotic people, for the only person who can demoralize you is yourself. You want to be accepted? Then be the best you can be. Live your life. That's all._**"

Naruto smiled weakly. That was the first lesson Laharl ever taught him, and made him make up his mind to be the Hokage.

-

"Nani!" Sakura wanted to shout. "What do you mean I can't go and see Sasuke-kun!"

The hospital had a share of disgruntled and maybe even violent females trying to visit Uchiha Sasuke. The boy was confined in another room, heavily guarded by ANBU, and was under the strict orders of the Hokage to be isolated.

No one, except for a few, knew what had happened. The story circulated around was that the Uchiha survivor had been kidnapped by the Sound, and Hokage had sent the team of gennins and Shikamaru to retrieve the boy.

Now, here is where it gets interesting. Sasuke, supposedly being kidnapped by the Sound was being rescued by the Gennins… but, why is he so beaten up? Not only that, but Naruto seemed to be in the same condition. Rumors were flying, but only three rumors had settled in the minds of the many fan girls.

The first rumor was invented by Sasuke addicts, and it was that Sasuke was beaten up by the kidnappers because he didn't want to be kidnapped without the fight. Most girls swooned over that, stating "Sasuke-sama is the greatest!" "That's our Sasuke-sama!" "How… heroic!"

The second was more or less created by the mixture of Sasuke fan girls, and the Naruto 'isn't really a bad guy' group. Much as Naruto thought that no one else other than a few people acknowledged him, there was a group in small numbers who formed after the event of the third part of the chunin exam who have seem to develop a sort of respect to the boy. After all, its not everyday you see the supposedly 'dead last' beat the senior genius, ne? The second rumor was said that Uchiha Sasuke had been found by the gennin Naruto, and both fought together against the kidnappers.

The third, and probably the more accurate of the two, was made by Sasuke fan girls, and the 'We don't like Naruto!' club. They theoretically claimed that Sasuke was trying to be killed by the over-jealous Naruto because the he had lots of things than the blonde 'dead last'. So, Sasuke fought back, being injured after being dishonorably attacked, and defeated the stupid idiot, and fainted because of his own injuries.

Now, back to Sakura, who was now raising her fist, just like her inner self, exploding. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T SEE HIM!" she shouted, really pissed. The last time Sasuke was in the hospital was after the preliminaries of the third Chunin exam, and even at that time, she couldn't visit him! She had just enough of this!

The ANBU watched rather apprehensively as Sakura just suddenly did a 180 on them and walked away, huffing, her eyes glazing with killer intent, and her big forehead filled with twitches. She stormed out of the hospital, muttering curses of life being unfair.

One of the ANBU's looked at the other. "At… least she didn't attack us…" he said.

One of the female ANBU's held her hand, and stated, "Okay, Nuyo, pay up!"

The ANBU in question cursed as he paid the woman money. He was sure Sakura would try and attack them… guess not today then.

-

"I'm gonna get this to the Hokage… no way in hell I'm gonna let this pass… those idiotic rules of isolating Sasuke… you'd think I was there claiming his life…!" Sakura mumbled, stamped on her way to the Hokage's office, wanting to give the Hokage a piece of her mind.

As she passed a restaurant, she didn't notice a hooded figure slowly eating inside the restaurant watching her. Actually, the hooded figure was watching everyone intently. It wasn't everyday that he'd visit a ninja village, and it wasn't everyday you'd see a group of girls going inside the hospital, and being kicked out by a few ninjas with masks one by one, as they feel the dust of the ground, whilst their teeth gnashing. Well, maybe except this shy girl with pupiless eyes… she came in, and came out, blushing and frowning at the same time.

The hooded figure stood up, and placed two gold coins in the table, and left without a another word towards the hospital.

Entering, he looked around, and noted his surroundings. It looked like your average hospital… light colors, and medic-nins wearing white uniforms are all over the place. There was a reception, and a waiting area. He walked towards the receptionist, seeming passing through the medic-nins like he was some sort of invisible ghost.

"Excuse me," he spoke softly towards the girl behind the desk. She snapped her head up, eyes widened a bit… she didn't see him! "I'm looking for someone… I felt his presence here."

"Ah… yes, yes," the girl stuttered a bit. "Um… may I ask who are you looking for?"

"Laharl…" the hooded figure replied.

The girl's eyes narrowed, and looked at her list. They were lucky it was a slow day… well, almost. They got 2 recovering gennin from the Uchiha Rescue mission, one unconscious demon fox, and one unconscious hero, and about 50 more patients, including 20 of which are elderly.

She scanned her list, and looked for Laharl as the clan name. No luck there, and here eyes narrowed. Sometimes, she hated doing this job, as some people just waltz here, make noise, and other stupid things. The hooded stranger, even though quiet, was not really helping her today. Couldn't he just give her Laharl's clan name or something? And… Laharl… what a weird funky name. Kind of which you'd expect out of a demon kid Overlord or something of sorts…

She hit her head with her open hand, trying to get stupid thoughts out of her head. Demon kid Overlord, yeah right. Next thing she would think is Naruto growing fox tails which would suddenly transform to angel wings, and become adored like the Uchiha kid. She laughed softly and continued scanning.

"… no, I'm sorry, I don't believe we have someone named Laharl here. Is he a patient, or does he work here?" _Could you at least give me his clan name! _the receptionist thought.

The hooded figure seemed to be once again in deep thought. If the receptionist didn't recognize the name, it closed the option that he worked in the hospital… but… he could feel his presence here… maybe, it was time to search for Laharl manually. "Thanks…" he muttered, before he turned to his side, and leave.

The girl stared at him, and wondered briefly what was up with that…

-

Sakura huffed and puffed all the way to the Hokage tower. She was pissed… really pissed. First, she had to wait for the recovery team to get Sasuke back, and after that, he was hospitalized, and now, she can't visit him!

She ignored the protesting guard in front of the office and went straight through the halls towards Tsunade's office. She kicked the door open (like I said, she's really really pissed…) and shouted, "HOKAGE-SAMA! YOU HAVE TO DO SOEMTHING ABOUT SASUKE'S VISI…"

"Oh… Konnichiwa, Sakura," Kakashi cut her off, his visible eye closed as he formed a smile. Sakura blinked… and turned white.

She just recalled her actions a few minutes ago. 1) Stomping on the road, scaring the shit of at least 3 cats, and made 6 babies cry. 2) She just burst in the office in the middle of what she can only describe as a meeting. Hokage was there, so was her sensei, Kakashi, and they seemed to be talking about something. 3) Did… did she just pass by an ANBU and gave him a cold shoulder?

"HOKAGE-SAMA!" shouts rang, and the sound of stamping feet came louder and louder. "THERE IS AN INTRUDER!"

Sakura's eyes widened and wanted to hide under a rock as a team of ANBU came in, all their weapons drawn, intent to kill the person who just burst in the office. Beads of sweat formed in Sakura's face as they all stared at her. She didn't move, her feet stuck on the floor.

"Eh, eh, that's enough," Tsunade's voice cut through the air like a hot a hot knife in butter. "Its okay, leave us."

The ANBU looked at each other, and back to the Hokage, and bowed. "Hai, Hokage-sama!" and they all dispersed. Sakura sighed with relief, only to take back her breath when she heard a slight coughing sound behind her. Slowly, she turned around…

"Eh… hi, Tsunade-sama…?"

"Sakura," Tsunade raised her eyebrow. "May I know why your purpose of your visit?"

Sakura blinked for a bit, then remembered her mission. She nodded a bit. "I wanted… to… eh… well, I wanted to visit Sasuke-kun…"

Tsunade and Kakashi looked at each other, and back to her. "I'm sorry, Sakura," Kakashi was the first one to speak. "Sasuke is to be isolated for a while…"

"Eh, but Kakashi-sensei, the last time Sasuke was in the hospital, I couldn't even visit!" Sakura complained.

Kakashi looked at the girl a bit seriously. "Sakura… there is more to Sasuke than his injuries… we are taking every precaution to prevent from Sasuke in running away again… I hope you understand."

"But…"

"By the way, I just had a nice talk with Tsunade-sama," Kakashi seemed to smile. "It concerns your future training."

Sakura stopped to her tracks. Tsunade was smiling at her, and so was Kakashi… what have they been talking about?

-

Naruto had calmed down quite a bit after his crying session, as he let everything out. Now he was there, his head on Kyubi's lap as she continually began to stroke his fox ears, enjoying the sensation.

Ever so often, he'd suddenly shiver as Kyubi's hand hit the sensitive part behind his ears, but didn't complain. Kyubi didn't as well, as she enjoyed what she was doing. Its been years… long years since she had done this to anyone. Laharl would never have allowed her hands to touch his ears like this… he was much too sensitive about it. Which is why it was always fun to try and ambush him for that… but he was trickier than she had ever thought.

"Kyubi-nechan…?" Naruto's voice derailed her train of thought.

"Hmmm? What is it, Naruto-kun?" Kyubi asked.

Naruto paused for a long time, before he gave one of his smiles, and just said, "No… nothing. Sorry, I was thinking something."

"Heh… you, thinking… that's a first," Kyubi smiled wickedly, feeling a bit more calmer, and a bit more normal.

Naruto smiled back at her. This is how usually Kyubi would talk to him. And if she started to talk to him normally, it meant one thing. "Heh… stupid fox girl! Of course I can think, unlike some people… no, demon… no, wait, demoness out there… oh, wait, did I say out there? I meant in here…"

"BRAT!" Kyubi snarled, and glared at him.

"TOMBOY!" Naruto shouted, and he sat up and glared back at her.

The two continued to glare at each other until finally, they broke out into a series of giggles and laughter. Naruto smiled widely, and gave a quick hug to Kyubi. She returned the hug, and smiled back at him. "So… I take it you're leaving, eh?" she said.

"Yeah… I think I've been asleep too long," Naruto replied, standing up. "Ne, Kyubi-nechan… I'll visit again, okay?"

Kyubi smiled at him. "Sure, go on Naruto-kun. Meanwhile… I'll stay here for a while, and plan my escape…" she laughed rather evilly.

Naruto blinked… and… shrugged. "Um… okay… I guess," he said, and began to walk towards the cage, and slipped through one of the cracks in the cage. Kyubi looked at him, and also walked towards the crack in the cage.

The crack was a wee bit too small for her… well, it wouldn't be if it weren't for her breasts… she sighed, and muttered about how her breasts get in the way, and smiled as she watched Naruto walk away.

She ran back to the common room, and sat on the La-Z-Boy and got comfortable, and grabbed the remote, and opened the TV. She smiled as she went on to watch the life of Uzumaki Naruto, now with Laharl's powers.

… _wait a minute… did he just shrug… and say, 'Um… okay, I guess'…? _Kyubi thought… The only person who shrug his shoulders and say stuff like that… was Laharl… "Hmmm… would it be… plausible if not only powers were transformed to Naruto… but also his… personality…?" she shivered a bit. "Eh… I cant picture Naruto being an ass like Laharl…" she stared at the screen… "Who… who's that!"

-

Naruto yawned as he opened his eyes, only to close them again at the sudden brightness. He stretched a bit, wondering what to do today, where he was, and what time it was. He first looked at the bed he was in… it was white… definitely not his bed… probably the hospital. He'd seen the same bed when he visited Lee… and had an encounter with that Gaara of the Sand.

"It seems you're finally awake," a male voice suddenly rang through the air. Naruto's eyes widened, and looked at his left. Standing there, leaning in the wall, was a hooded male figure, seemingly looking at him.

"W… who are you!" Naruto demanded.

"Eh… is that the greeting you'd give me, Budsy? Or should I call you… Laharl?" the hooded figure replied.

Naruto looked at him, and he looked back. _Oh shit… what now! _

**To Be Continued…**

**NEXT: Hooded figure! Laharl's techniques! The Sand-nins… and a flying elephant! Next! **


	4. Alive! Laharl's Legacy

"… nani?" Sakura's mind just went to an abrupt stop. Think of a meteor, about to strike the earth, but suddenly, it stops about 5 inches from the ground. Yup… that kind of stopping. And no one could really blame her for it, really, because… well, it was too darn shocking.

"You heard us, Sakura," Kakashi said with a small smile, hidden beneath his mask. "I have suggested this to Hokage-sama, and she thinks it would be for the best."

Sakura's mouth was just open like a goldfish out of the water… and not just any goldfish… the goldfish with those big foreheads… yes, there are those types of goldfishes. It might be cruel to compare her to those, but what the hell… I like goldfishes.

"You… want me to train as a medic-nin… under Tsunade-sama's wing…?" Sakura asked breathlessly. "For… real?"

Tsunade smiled. "I have heard a lot about you from your Kakashi-sensei, and I read the mission reports. Of the three members of Team 7 genins, you best your other two teammates in terms of Chakra control. I believe we can mold you to a fine medic-nin."

Sakura couldn't believe her ears. Not only was she complimented on something, but she was being told by Tsunade, one of the legendary sennins that she'd make a fine medic-nin! _HA! YES! _ Inner Sakura thought as she raised her hands in victory. She gave a quick, but respective bow to them. "Thank you!"

Kakashi's eyes went upwards, and his hand went to his chin. "And… well, this brings us to the bad news…"

Sakura's head stayed low during the bow. Bad news? What bad news? Had something happened to Sasuke! Was he too injured… and died! _NARUTO! If Sasuke dies, I'm gonna kill you! _

Tsunade seemed grave, and nodded to the statement. "Unfortunately… because of present circumstances… we have to break up Team 7."

Eyes widened… thoughts came down crashing to the ground. For the second time ever since her break in to the Hokage's office, she had to say it. "N… nani? Break up Team 7?" Both adults nodded. "Why!" she asked, maybe a bit louder than usual.

"Incapacity of two members…" Tsunade replied.

"In…capacity?" Sakura asked.

"Correct," Kakashi replied. "As you know, Sasuke had tried to abandon the village… fortunately, he was returned by Naruto. But still… his actions put him in grave danger of being branded as a traitor. Worst scenario is that he'd be executed… but I think he can escape that fate with some type of detention…"

Sakura winced. She wanted to protest, really, on how her Sasuke-kun wouldn't deserve such fate, and that he was just… well… he just… Sakura sighed mentally in defeat. There was no way to defend Sasuke-kun like that, especially against a jounin and a sannin. It might work on kids at her age… but…

Sakura's eyes widened as something hit her. "Uh… wait a minute. You said two members are incapacitated… what happened to Naruto!"

Naruto… the blonde annoying, blue eyed… weirdo. But… as much as Sakura liked working with Sasuke and Sasuke alone, Naruto would probably come right behind Sasuke as one of the few people she'd be willing to work with. So… what was wrong with him now?

"Nothing is wrong with Naruto… but…" Tsunade looked towards the window, looking at the outside view. The sun was shining… the birds were chirping. "Naruto… is going away after he recovers."

"… Nani…?" Sakura asked again. "Naruto… is going away? Why!"

"He'll be training with someone for the next three years," Kakashi putted in. "With a teacher who agrees more or less with him… and share a few characteristics."

"Like…?" Sakura asked, curious.

"Loud… obnoxious, annoying," Tsunade smiled, her thoughts on Jiraiya. "Besides… he taught Naruto some of the things he now knows… and he can teach him a lot more."

By the way… where the hell was Jiraiya?

**(Bullet by Covenant)**

**- The Uzumaki Naruto Ninja Chronicles - **

**- Alive! Laharl's Legacy -**

Jiraiya… Many things can be said about a man… his words… actions… accomplishments… Jiraiya, like many other men out there, has a special name in which Naruto would label him as. Sasuke Uchiha was labeled as the bastard, Shino as the creepy weird bug guy… and the Legendary Toad Sannin was affectionately called Ero-sennin.

There are many things in which Naruto didn't know about the perverted hermit… one of them was that he didn't know that it was Ero-sennin who had been the student of The Third Hokage. He also didn't know that Tsunade had turned him down at least 67,986 times when he asked for a date during their lifetime. He also didn't know that his rival, and probably who he considered as a close friend, was the snake sannin himself, Orochimaru.

What he did know was that… well, one, Jiraiya was perverted. Two, he had more or less connections to that stupid book Kakashi keeps reading. Three, he taught him the Rasengan, and the Summoning technique. Four, he was a super pervert.

The mentioned man was now shaking hand with a man in formal clothes, looking serious. Jiraiya finally did it… even after the war, even after searching for Tsunade, even after looking after the brat, he finally did it. He had finally released his new novel of the Icha Icha Paradise world.

One of the main things in which why Jiraiya was loaded was one thing. His books. The books with super erotic content backed up with a super suspenseful story made it the best selling book across the world. Almost 80 of adult ninjas had read his books… and he received quite a few impressive feedbacks as well…

There was one which had wanted to congratulate him on the very critical book of the Icha Icha world. The plots, sub-plots, the imagery, the symbols… it was a literate masterpiece… Jiraiya had to scratch his head on that. He never wanted the book to be views like that. He just wrote them out of… well… peeping out naked girls. That's all…

Oh, and there was one other letter… the best letter yet. It was a girl, who had specifically told him the Icha Icha series had definitely changed her view and wanted to meet him. She described herself as a sexy young buxom from the Wind country… and she had nice sandy blonde hair and even had her measurements in it, and she wanted to meet up with him ASAP.

That was years ago… but Jiraiya still kept the letter. He never sought the girl out though, as much as he wanted to. After all, as much as Tsunade or the brat Naruto viewed him, he was still a professional. Playing ding-a-ling with his fans wouldn't be that professional… but he still kept the image of the girl in his heart and his mind, blowing a kiss in the sky, as a sign of thanks to the girl.

-

Temari sneezed… and looked around. Her eyes narrowed. Someone had been talking… or thinking about her. She sighed. In front of her was the Icha Icha Paradise Movie sign. Her eyes glared at the picture. With a shout, she jumps, and smashes the whole board with her flying kick, causing wood to crack, and the sign to topple over.

She sent out a silent curse. She will find the man who ahd ruined her life with the Icha Icha Series… he must be smart, avoiding her like that… but no worries… she will get there…

"My ambition… up until now… is to kill a certain person. I shan't rest… until that is fulfilled."

-

In the hospital, Naruto was frozen, looking at the figure. The last time he had seem something so mysterious was that Itachi guy who had those Sharingan eyes out. Mysterious things don't bode well for the boy… Trust me, he had lots of turn ins with mysterious people and situations. The prime example was Kyubi… how in the world can she be friendly to him being in a prison for almost 13 years… and stuck with Laharl, to boot! Both had been in each other's throats for like… forever!

"W… who are you!" Naruto demanded towards the hooded figure. "What are you doing here!"

"Hmph… stop procrastinating, Buds, and stand up. Don't tell me you're that injured that you need to be hospitalized," the hooded figure snorted. "What happened to you? Got your ass handed to the Norns? And what's with the new body?"

The hooded figure looked at him from head to toe, his head was the only thing which moved. His eyes were still hidden from view. "And a short one as well… you're a shrimp now, Budsy…"

Naruto steamed. Now that was probably the worst insult anyone gave him. After all, he had been belittled of everything by everyone, but after some time, he began to prove them wrong. They said he was incompetent in the use of chakra… and can't do a simple Bunshin. He proved them wrong by using the Kage Bunshin. They said he could never control his chakra. He proved them, yet again, wrong by doing the Rasengan, which probably is the hardest move to do mainly because of the control needed in the chakra.

But his height… that hurt him a lot. He tried lots of things… drinking milk everyday, even settled in adding some few protein pills in his diet… but it seemed that no matter what he did, he couldn't grow at least a few inches. What would he give to be taller than the bastard Sasuke…

"DON'T CALL ME SHORT!" Naruto shouted, raising his fist. "And why are you calling me BUDSY! I'm Naruto! NA-RU-TO! Uzumaki Naruto! The next Hokage!"

The hooded figure used at him, and looked at him hard. Naruto was finally able to gasp as he was able to see his eyes… there were no eyes. They were hidden in some kind of shades made of reflective glass. The hooded figure removed his hood, and Naruto was finally able to see the features beneath the covers of the hood.

He had maroon hair, with a short tail tied behind him, and two bangs arranged in a… well, weird manner. He never has seen anything like it. His bangs were somewhat long in sides, but the front ones were a bit shorter.

The figure moved a bit, letting the backpack fall on his right arm. Naruto tensed, and was about to raise his hands and defend himself any way he can when the stranger threw the bag at him.

It smacked his face, mainly because he was distracted by the guy's actions. Then again, if that didn't surprise Naruto, the next statement did. "Heh… looks like things didn't go well for Budsy. Here… Buds would have wanted you to have this."

The figure walked towards the open window in Naruto's room, apparently ignoring the boy now that he had given the bag. Naruto blinked. He was more or less confused at what the fuck was happening. "OI! Who are you! And who the hell is Budsy! And who is Buds!"

The stranger turned his head around and looked back at him. In a low drawling and bored tone, he replied simply, "Buds and Budsy are the same… a blind man would have seen that. And Buds is… well, you'd probably know him as Laharl."

Naruto's face suddenly went serious, and his eyes narrowed. "Laharl… nichan?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. The stranger looked at him, his mouth forming a somewhat twisted frown.

"Brother?" he asked, more to himself than the boy. "Well… whatever. He just asked me to leave this to anyone… eh, forget it. Just read the scrolls and whatever."

With that, the stranger jumped and left the building.

-

Left alone to his own devices, Naruto could only stare at the bag. His hands were nervously twitching, and shivering. This bag… no, the contents inside the bag were from Laharl-nichan. Was this a trap? Naruto began to think…

Contrary to popular belief, Naruto wasn't totally dumb. He was actually a decent strategist, a product of his yearly pranks, which he hasn't been doing in a while. He wanted to prank people again, probably make a prank which would make all other adults there so mad that the chase would last for days.

But now… everything seemed to drain him. Somehow… Laharl had a friend take care of him even until the end. With his still shaking hand, Naruto slowly opened the bag again… and closed it at once. What if it had a bomb inside?

Naruto shook his head. If the guy wanted to kill him, he'd done so earlier, when he was unconscious. Naruto nodded. Yeah… the stranger was a bit creepy, but he didn't seem to be a bad guy. With that, he opened the bag… and black smoke exploded in his face.

-

The stranger smirked as he watched as black smoke began to escape the open window where he had exited from earlier. He smirked.

"Heh… that definitely wasn't Budsy…" he whispered.

"Sir… you're food…" a voice came from behind him. The stranger looked forward, and saw the old man giving him the food he had ordered.

"Oh… thanks," he said, and began to eat.

-

Naruto swore at the top of his voice as he tried to rub his face. The explosion left him unharmed… but with a very black face. He swore, he swore and swore again, using words that he never used but heard Kyubi say it before. The fox girl could only giggle.

"_**Hahahaha… that's a nice touch to your face!" **_

"Ah, shut up!" Naruto declared, glaring at the open air, quite stupidly, I might add. "When see him again, I'm gonna kick his sorry ass so hard that he's going to be shitting on the moon!"

"**_Get over yourself, Naruto. He seems quite powerful… and knows Laharl. You might get to know more by being friends than trying to do anything drastic." _**

Naruto just kept cursing silently. The man makes fun of his height, and puts some sort of smoke bomb inside a bag which he had opened and it exploded on his face. He was not in the mood!

But… when the smoke cleared, Naruto could only look inside the bag… and was surprised to see 5 medium sized scrolls… and a wrapped up package. The blonde boy sat in an Indian position, pondering what to do next. "Eeny… mini… miney… moe…" he pointed at the scrolls, and the wrapped package with his index finger, stopping to each one with every word. Finally, he's line ended and the finger was pointing at the package.

"Yosh! Let's see what's in here!" Naruto smiled his foxy smile… the smile you see usually when someone compliments him or acknowledges him. Then, he frowned. "If it's another trick, I'm so kicking his ass…"

Unfolding the wrappings, Naruto's eyes stared as hundreds of scalpels suddenly poured in his bed. It took a second to register what was inside the pouch, and suddenly felt faint. What the hell was going on!

He slowly touched the scalpels in their sides, feeling them. They were cold as steel… and seemed dull, but not rusted. He thought a moment why the scalpels are even there in the first place… after all, they seemed pretty useless… when suddenly, they began to glow in red color.

Before the boy could do anything, the scalpels suddenly rushed towards Naruto's hand, and suddenly, the dull blades went sharp as they rushed inside. Naruto gasped in pain as multiple of those sharp objects went inside his skin, and somehow began to settle there. After a few seconds, the scalpels stopped rushing in, and Naruto was left there to stare at his hand wildly, trying to figure out what had happened, how the hell it happened, and how to fix it.

He was about to scream for help, to take out the scalpels that seem to be inside him (although he cant feel them beneath his skin) when he suddenly hear his sister calmly saying **_"Wow… that's like… Laharl's weapon, and move. Hiding scalpels inside him. He does that lots of times… especially against me…" _**

"Eh… he does?" Naruto asked, calming down now, ignoring Kyubi's growling and cursing of the purple haired boy. If Laharl did this technique lots of times, it can't be that bad… can it?

"**_Yeah… stupid baka half-ling… But… I guess this means this are really Laharl's stuff… right?" _**

"No!" Naruto shouted, his face contorted with anger and stubbornness… the one you see when Iruka refused to give him the forehead protector. "It doesn't mean anything! I don't trust that bastard! What if he gave this stuff just to make me trust him… and just suddenly humiliate me like he did with the smoke bomb!"

"**_Brat… don't tell me you're going to turn a simple prank into a full blown vendetta?" _**

"… whats a vendetta?" Naruto asked. Kyubi didn't reply, but Naruto did hear her whisper 'baka' and he fumed. "Well, excuse me for my ignorance!"

"_**You ain't ignorant, baka. You're just stupid!" **_

Naruto rolled his eyes, and wanted to retort when he saw the scrolls inside. He pulled them out one by one, each one numbered from one to five. He began to think for a bit. Finally, after five minutes of choosing between one to five, he chose number one. Slowly untying the rope which held the scroll closed, and opened the scroll…

"… okay, this is a joke…" Naruto murmured, and fumed. The scroll was blank. Was this the idea of the hooded man as a joke? If so, it wasn't funny. At least his pranks had humor in it… "Of all the stupid…" Naruto continued to complain as he fully opened the scroll. "And not to mention that stupid smoke bomb… hey… what's this…?"

Naruto spotted a small inscription at the side of the scroll. "What normal eyes can't see, the Demon Eyes can… what the hell does that mean?"

"_**D… demon eyes?" **_

Naruto perked up, and nodded. "Hai… Ne, ne, Kyubi-nechan… what's that?"

"_**Laharl's… special attack… its got to do with his eyes…" **_

"How does he use it…?" Naruto asked.

"_**He just… I don't know… stares at the eyes of his attacker… and… well… I got no idea…" **_

Naruto laughed mockingly. "Baka, kitsune… you're not so great!" he said in a sneering tone.

"_**HEY, FUCK YOU, YOU SHRIMPY BRAT! YOU CAN'T BLAME ME FOR MY IGNORANCE!" **_

Naruto smirked. "Baka… you're not ignorant. You're just stupid." That shut Kyubi up, as she silently fumed and whispered a lot more curses. Naruto left her to her own world as he began to stare at the scroll.

If Demon Eyes were something with the eyes… and Laharl just stares at the person who he is aiming it at, then maybe he should focus on his own eyes. Naruto felt weird for a moment. Just a few days ago, the only places he'd usually focus on were his feet and his hands. But now… his eyes. And nothing seemed to be happening. He sighed.

He stared at the scroll again. Focus… focus… he was focusing… any time now… Naruto wanted to tap his feet. After a few minutes, he wanted to stand up and start dancing. Staring at the scroll was extremely boring. He stared… stared… and stared some more. Nothing was working.

Naruto was about to shout when everything turned black.

-

The ex-hooded figure with maroon hair was moving around the village, trying to see what was there. If he knew life, and he really knew it at the back of his hand, things never go to plan. Chaos makes Order run. And life is one big chaos.

He had been looking around for a bit and was frankly surprised by the many types of ninjas in the village. There was that pupil-less eyes… then those weird dog-like shinobis… then when he thought he'd seen it all, he saw some little weird kid doing a weird technique which transformed him to a naked lady. He heard the little shrimp shout 'Sexy no Jutsu!' and poof! Instant pornography.

But this takes the cake. He had been walking towards the forest, and he saw two people, one with silver hair, and the leaf forehead protector covering his left eye, and the other guy… was probably the weirdest person he had ever met. I mean… come on… bowl cut? Thick eyebrows? Green spandex! Amused, he stayed there, low, as not to be detected, watching them both.

"Now, my eternal rival Kakashi!" the green spandex wearing weirdo began. "We shall have the ultimate test in strength!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Kakashi replied nonchalantly, earning him a glare from Gai.

"You… with such cool attitude! There is no other person who can compete with you!" Gai exclaimed. "Now! Behold! Whoever can throw your elephant the hardest wins! I'll go first!"

The maroon haired figure did a double take. Elephants? In the forest? He stared at the elephants, and noticed that none of them were moving, nor were none of them breathing or even blinking. Replicas… very good ones too. Even they seem to be as heavy as elephants.

Gai spun around, and kicked the elephant so hard that it flew in a 25 degree angle before landing a few meters away from its original position. The green spandex wearing… eh… jounin looked at Kakashi with a wide sparkling smile. "Beat that!"

Kakashi didn't seem to notice as his nose was hidden beneath a book he was reading. Gai twitched again. Of all the people… Kakashi was the only one who acted this way and got away from it.

Kakashi, after a few moments, finally looked up. He saw the elephant where it landed. "Eh… nice distance… my turn?" he asked. Gai only nodded. Kakashi seemed to smile, and suddenly formed a tiger seal with his two hands.

Gai's eyes narrowed. What good would a Katon technique do here? After all, Tiger Seals were used as part of Katon techniques, which was Fire Country's elemental move. But suddenly, Kakashi dashed towards the elephant… and… poked it hard in its ass.

Gai fell down, and the elephant flew away in a 45 degree agnle… and flew towards the sky.

"… is that even plausible?" the maroon haired whispered, disbelieved.

Somewhere in the village, it was break time kids looked up, pointing at the flying elephant.

-

**Scanning…**

**Boot File found… reading… **

**No traces of tamper. Extracting necessary data… Done. **

**Welcome to the Matrix. Program 1 running. **

Naruto suddenly was blinded by a sudden bright light, and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust with the light, and when he opened his eyes, he saw someone he never expected to see…

"Eh… Kyubi-nechan?" Naruto asked, surprised. The fox girl also seemed surprised, staring at Naruto. "What are you doing here?"

"… what am I doing here!" Kyubi asked with even more intensity.

"I don't know…" Naruto stated. "I was just… staring at the paper and everything went… black! And Whoom! White again!"

"Yeah, well, you have to find out what the hell happened… as much as like being outside the Cage, not knowing how I got out is more dangerous than knowing how…" Kyubi said in a soft voice.

"You're not out of your cage, Kyubi-chan," a voice suddenly called. Kyubi gasped, and looked at her left. Naruto looked at his right, and saw a person they never thought they'd see again. A certain purple haired boy.

"La… Laharl-nichan!" Naruto gasped.

"Yo," Laharl said with a cheery smile.

"But… how…!" Kyubi lost her words. This was impossible. She had seen him disappear. Naruto's fox tails and ears was the final clue and evidence in pointing out that Laharl had merged with Naruto. But… why is he here! "Who are you! You're not Laharl! He merged with Naruto!"

"I know," Laharl calmly nodded. "I was aware that one day, I'd have to… which is why I did a backup of me inside the Cage in case that happened."

"Backup!" Naruto asked, not understanding.

"If you both are here, it means that Aaron gave you the scrolls didn't he?" Laharl asked.

"Aaron?" Naruto asked.

"You know… maroon haired guy…"

"An asshole?" Naruto asked with a sneer.

Laharl smiled. "Yup, he can be. Guess you did meet him, eh?"

Naruto was about to launch a complaint and curses when Kyubi beat him to the punch, and 'interrogated' Laharl. "Oi, don't ignore me you bastard!" Kyubi almost shouted. "Who the fuck are you… and if you're really Laharl, how in the freaking hell are you gonna explain why I'm somewhere other than the cage, and you here, alive!"

Laharl looked at Kyubi with narrow eyes, seemingly serious. "You know more or less that I'm not dead, but inside Naruto… somewhere deep inside him that I'm hidden from you both. I merged with him. I am alive inside him. And besides…" Laharl smiled. "I thought you might like being out of the cage."

"… that still doesn't explain anything, Laharl…" Kyubi said softly, her eyes glaring at Laharl's. "Now. Explain."

Laharl just sighed, and nodded. "Alright. You know the scroll which Naruto's been staring, right?" Kyubi nodded. Naruto was still gaping at Laharl to do anything. "Oi, Naruto! Pay attention!"

Naruto snapped up, and nodded seriously. "Hai, Laharl-nichan!"

Laharl nodded, and continued. "I knew that my combining with Naruto would erase all my memories, so I built a sort of back-up inside my room of the cage. Don't bother trying to find it, I hid it very well," Laharl said that part seriously. "Now… my back-up is actually useless without a media, which is why Aaron gave you the scrolls."

"Scrolls…?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, those blank scrolls… I made them in case when my combination with my host goes wrong… and it did go wrong. After all… it was the stupid seal which did the merging for me, and it just handed my powers to Naruto," Laharl explained.

"I'm… getting a headache…" Kyubi said, clearly confused.

Laharl sighed. "Okay… here goes. I put something like a back-up of me… who has my personality, knowledge of my moves, and some of my memories. But considering on how I made those back-ups, it's worthless without a special medium, which is the scroll which Aaron gave you. Aaron is a good friend of mines, and I gave those scrolls to him in case something bad happens to me, like now."

"You mean… when I suddenly have your powers?" Naruto asked.

"But not my memories, yes," Laharl said. "My powers are kinda useless… especially to you, Naruto, without extensive knowledge on how to use them. Which is why the scrolls are here to help you. Since this is the first scroll, it's the Intro-Pro Scroll, the beginning scroll. It will teach you about the other scrolls, what they have, and some important information that you should know, and further instructions."

"… something tells me that you're not telling everything," Kyubi said softly, seriously. Laharl could only laugh and nod.

"Eh, eh, don't worry," Laharl whispered. "All answers come in your time. After all, it is the meaning of life."

"… eh?" Naruto asked. Laharl just grinned, and shrugged.

"Nevermind. Anyways, lets get this show on the road," Laharl said. "This is scroll one, basically, where I explain some stuff to you. You want moves and techniques, go for scroll 2, 3 and 4. The fifth scroll is the "Free" scroll, where any questions you want, most can be answered in that scroll. It is also the training scroll.

"As you know, I have combined with Naruto. With that, I gave all my powers to him, which includes some… soul curses that I carried…"

"Soul curses?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. Red slitted eyes… the purple hair… you might not get to have purple hair like mines, but you will see it, even if it's only a bit," Laharl paused, seemingly thinking what next to say. "You'll also have my abilities, like the scalpel formation and scalpel hiding."

"Naruto experienced that… the hiding I mean," Kyubi nodded. "Some… don't know… tens of scalpels suddenly went inside him."

"Ah… my secret stash of 5 Grade scalpels. Great for training and getting used to the weapon," Laharl nodded. "But… I won't teach you how to use them… well, not yet. That's for scroll 2. Now… there are other things… like… well… have any of you heard of the Lust Blood?"

Naruto heard someone fall off, and looked towards Kyubi who was now on the ground, staring intently at Laharl. He was about to ask what was wrong with her when she just stood up, grabbed Laharl by the collar of his shirt, and stared at him, her nose just a centimeter away from his, and she spoke in quite a loud voice…

"Tell me you don't have that… tell me you just didn't give Naruto the Lust Blood!" she began to say, twitching.

Laharl just raised his hands, sweating a bit. "Hey, hey, it was a part of my soul curse… I can't just not give it to Naruto, you know. I wish I wouldn't give it to him but… hey, come on, Kyubi-chan, let go of me…"

"You should have stayed alive… when you just upped and died, you began to make Naruto suffer…" Kyubi raised her fist. "and not only that, but you not only died, but you also infected him with Lust Blood! You FUCKING INSANE!" Her hands now had claws in it. She seemed ready to swipe his face off.

"Ano sa… ano sa… what's the Lust Blood thingy?" Naruto asked, his right hand raising. It sounded bad… and it seems to be even worse, especially with Kyubi just threatening Laharl like that. "Is… it bad?"

Kyubi, still glaring at Laharl, answered. "Imagine this. A demon killer would have blood lust, which makes him enjoy the smell, feeling, taste and sight of blood… that's why he'd keep killing and killing, just to get his satisfaction in blood."

Naruto's eyes widened. "I'm… gonna turn like that!"

"No… you don't have blood lust. You got Lust Blood, which means you're going to be a fucking sex maniac…" Kyubi glared at Laharl evilly, grinning like she wanted to slice him up to little pieces. "You're skin would be very sensitive, making you aroused easily. You can also smell sexual stimulation of the opposite sex more easily, and you wont just get enough of sex… Especially during the Red Moon… where you just transform into a stupid sex monster…"

"Okay… that's bad…" Naruto stated a bit calmly. He looked at Kyubi and Laharl, and suddenly began laughing. Kyubi blinked, and Laharl smirked a bit.

"Oi… BRAT! What are you laughing about!" Kyubi demanded.

"Hahahaha… you're joking right? Hahaha. Me, turn to someone like that closet perv, or Ero-sennin, or even Kakashi-sensei… ne? ne?" Naruto asked, smiling. Kyubi wasn't smiling back, and Laharl looked… apologetic… "Uh… guys?" Naruto asked.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun, its no joke," Laharl said, he's head bowed. "You might turn to that… but I made sure that wasn't going to happen, so…"

Kyubi glared back at Laharl. "Oh? How! HOW!" she shouted the last part.

"Look, Lust Blood will take time to form, probably in two years," Laharl said, now looking at Kyubi with serious eyes. "So, don't worry about it now! And even if he did gets the Lust Blood, I already took countermeasures to hold the lust back."

"… counter…measure? Ne, what's that?" Naruto asked.

"I knew that I couldn't have Lust Blood Curse, so… I… um, I contacted an old friend of mines," Laharl scratched the back of his head, remembering the new Overlord Etna. "She was able to bypass the constant lust attacks by placing another curse on me… the Red Moon Child Curse…"

Kyubi stared at Laharl, like he was joking. "You're… joking… right? Right!"

"… um, guys… what's this Red Moon Child thing?" Naruto asked, truly lost at the conversation.

Kyubi didn't look at Naruto anymore as she explained again. Her eyes were burning with so much rage toward Laharl. "Red Moon Child Curse… in every Full Human Moon, in the demon's eyes, its red. As the name says, every Red Moon, or Full Moon, the person with this curse turns the user into a child. A very young child. This… stupid fool, not only cursed you with the Lust Blood, but also with the Red Moon Child Curse!"

"… Laharl-nechan… why?" Naruto asked, looking at Laharl, a bit hurt and sad. What did he do to deserve two curses at him?

"Look, Naruto," Laharl looked at the boy. "It was the only way in which you don't go to a hormonal tidal wave, and begin humping on every female in site. My friend was able to make all the abnormal lust concentrate fully on the red moon, but on the Red Moon, you are turned to a child, whose not affected by lust or anything. Worst that could happen is that you'd get over affectionate…"

Kyubi was twitching. She was not hearing this… "You were better off alive. Or better, not be trapped inside Naruto! You know what you have DONE!"

"Hey, Lust Blood was not my idea, okay!" Laharl shouted angrily. "It was given to me by some bitch who thought it would be fun to turn my blood to Aphrodite! The only way I could have resisted that was to turn back to a child when the Red Moon comes in!" Laharl then suddenly paused, putting a finger in his chin. "Which reminds me… Naruto," he looked at the boy. "Whatever you do when the Lust Blood has settled… try not to bleed, okay?"

"Eh… why?" Naruto asked.

Laharl was about to speak once more when he shrugged, and grinned. "Ask me that when you bleed the first time after getting the Lust Blood, okay?" Laharl replied, smiling rather evilly. Naruto swallowed. Kyubi just rolled her eyes.

"Like hell I'm going to let that happen," she glared at Laharl. "You got any other stupid curses you infected on our little brother!"

Laharl just laughed. "Nope… not that I know off…"

"Baka," was all Kyubi said. She let go off Laharl and moved beside Naruto, and put her arms across her chest, waiting for Laharl to continue talking. The boy smiled, and read her mind.

"Alright… where were we…? Oh yeah," Laharl put up three fingers. "I must tell you three important aspects of before you can move further down the scroll numbers. One, practice everything I will teach you on the outside world. As you can guess, we are just really inside your mind, Naruto."

"… we are…?" Naruto asked, surprised. Kyubi just groaned. Laharl just smirked.

"Yeah, we are. Now, two, don't waste mental energy in trying to use three scrolls at once," Laharl said. "Your Demon Eyes is still just developing. You'd probably use at least only twice a day, in low levels. You can train that using the scroll number 2, as it explains the aspect of Demon Eyes and the scalpel usage. That's your basic weaponry and power, okay?"

Naruto nodded, understanding a bit. Laharl continued.

"Alright. Scroll 3 teaches you the Hiten Mitsurugi Style, a powerful sword fighting style which will prove to be your saving grace especially against almost impossible battles," Laharl smiled, remembering the ougi (succession technique) of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. "Fourth will be Arnis Ryu, my secondary style, using two batons. Perfect in close combat and against fighting multiple enemies. The Fifth Scroll is the Free Scroll. Anything goes there, so use that scroll lots of times to learn something new, taught by the very special… me!"

Kyubi just snorted. "Oh yeah, you're really Laharl alright."

Laharl just jumped, and made a sad mock face. "Oh… is that what you think of me, Kyubi-chan? I'm hurt!"

"Ah, shut up, half-ling," Kyubi snorted, turning her head away from him, annoyed.

Laharl just smiled, and continued… "Three… because of our combination, not only will you have my powers, but also my heritage. As you can see, you're part human, part fox…"

Kyubi cut in. "Yeah, we know. Its obvious the way the fox ears and fox tail are there," she said, pointing at Naruto's extra appendages. The boy could only blush. He still wasn't used to that… having a tail.

"Good… I also have another heritage, but I'll delve on that when you reach the second scroll," Laharl said, smiling. "Now… your fox heritage is not only in the spirit level, but also in the physical level. Basically, it means your body should have fox ears and tail as well…"

Naruto's eyes widened. "B… but… that cant be good! I mean… I'd… be the laughing stock of everyone! Fox ears and fox tail! And not to mention the village's hatred towards Kyubi-nichan!"

Laharl nodded, smiling calmly. "I know, Naruto-kun, which is why I wanted to tell you something. The Demon Eyes will cover that up. You see, the Demon Eyes is a really special power that doesn't just focus primarily on staring at your enemies eyes. In weak power usages, it can trick people in not seeing things there are to see. No one, even with Sharingan or Byakugen can see because its hidden from their mind. Understand?"

Naruto shook his head. Everything was so confusing. Laharl just sighed, and nodded.

"Alright… Demon Eyes will trick the mind, not the eye, and will tell the people around them that there are no fox ears or fox tail. That notion will be stuck in their heads until either the Demon Eyes falters because you've either run out of energy, or killed," Laharl explained. "Even if they use special eyes like the Sharingan, they can't exactly see them because they still think that you don't have those ears. It's a…"

"Complete Mind Bend…" Kyubi completed it for Laharl. "Very… fascinating. It's definitely the handiwork of the Demon Eyes… the Brain Hacking Optics."

Naruto just scratched his head. "Um… can you explain it one more time?" Kyubi twitched.

"YOU'RE REALLY STUPID! BAKA!"

"DON'T CALL ME BAKA, STUPID!" Naruto shouted back.

"What can't you understand!" Kyubi glared at Naruto. This was getting tiresome. "Demon Eyes tricks the mind deeply that the people will think nothing is wrong! To them, you got no fox ears or fox tail, but to you, you can clearly see them! What's so hard about that!"

Naruto blinked… and suddenly nodded. "Oooooh… so that's how!"

Kyubi twitched. "He's a baka… I am stuck in a Baka's body… a ramen loving baka…"

Laharl waved his hand. "Eh, eh, he's got it, right? No more to argue."

Naruto just grinned. Laharl looked at him, smiled for a second, then looked at him seriously.

"Naruto."

"Um… hai?" Naruto asked.

"You're about to wake up… so I only got two instructions for you," Laharl said in a serious tone. "Study the second scroll at once. Use your Demon Eyes. You may just take pass the third and fourth scroll, but not the second one, as it is your basic foundation. If you don't know how to use your new powers, you either land in two places. Six feet under because you can't use your powers, or accidentally killing a kid because you couldn't control your powers. Got it?"

"Hai…" Naruto nodded, serious. "But… Laharl-nichan, how do I use the Demon Eyes? I just felt like… staring at something… and it just feels weird."

Laharl smiled. "Yeah, its going to take a while to make you use the eyes like a natural. Here is a tip. Find a spot on what you are staring, and keep staring, concentrating on that spot, and it will happen."

"Oh, oh! Kinda like the Rasengan?" Naruto asked, smiling at his smartness.

"Yeah, the second step of the move, like that. Yup," Laharl nodded. "Just do that, and the Eyes will respond. Now… secondly… Naruto… as much as possible, try to remove your mask."

Kyubi's fox ears perked up on that. Naruto's as well, and his face suddenly went from smiling to utter seriousness, something quite uncommon for people who knew Naruto. The boy who always had a smile, always grinning.

Probably the only person who knew the face Naruto had now was Iruka, who seen the same face when Naruto had defended him against the traitorous Academy Teacher, Mizuki sensei. The face filled with dead seriousness not even Sasuke could do. It was a face rarely shown… it was also the true face of Uzumaki Naruto.

"Laharl-nichan…" Naruto said in a low tone. "Why do you tell me to do that…?"

"I never might have a chance to tell you… I don't know. I don't have the necessary data to 'remember' but know this…" Laharl closed his eyes. "If you keep that mask on, you're going to keep those emotions bottled up. And one day… it will explode… and with my powers…" he opened his eyes… "You will destroy things… kill people… so… show how you truly feel more often. I'm not telling you to act like Sasuke, but… don't smile when you don't want to."

-

To the outside, everything was as is. Only in the mind of Naruto Uzumaki, did everything seemed to change. His eyes opened, blinking, adjusting to the sun. If anyone would have been there, they'd notice that his eyes were red, and turned blue again. He didn't have the usual smile in his face. He looked at the scroll that was opened before him, and smiled slowly.

He rolled the scroll, closing it. He took out the second scroll, and focused on it. This is going to take a while.

**To Be Continued**

**Next: Naruto learns more… and battles out the person who brought him the scrolls. Changes everywhere! Sasuke wakes up! Jiraiya plans on taking Naruto in a training trip! All this, next! **

**Author's Note: Its… kinda slow. ;; But it'll get faster later on. Thanks to all reviewers! See ya next chapter! **


	5. Hidden Blood! Naruto, the new Holder of ...

"Ah… I'm glad you wasted no time," Laharl said as he smiled towards Naruto and Kyubi. "Welcome to the Second Scroll Program. Basics of Scalpel Formation and Usage are taught here. Not to mention the functions of Demon Eyes. Ready, kid?"

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. His smile was a genuine one. "Ne, Laharl-nichan, what are you going to teach me?"

"The basics of course," Laharl smiled at the scowl in Naruto's face. "Eh, eh, Basics are important. Without that, you can't do more complex stuff. Now… let's explain your new powers.

"My powers are derived from my other heritage which I didn't mention at Scroll 1… oi, you listening?" Naruto nodded. "Cool, okay," Laharl continued. "Now, this heritage I kept secret… not even our dear Kyubi-chan knows about it… right Kyubi-chan? I never did… squeal, did I?"

Laharl smirked and gave a wink to Kyubi, who now looked at Laharl with rage. "Laharl… I swear, if you ever say another word about… about that… I will personally kill you. I'll follow you to the afterlife… AND GUT YOUR STUPID MOTHERFU-"

"Yare, yare, fine, fine…" Laharl cut her off, smiling widely. "Mum's the word."

"Um… what are you and Kyubi-chan talking about…?" Naruto asked, curious. Laharl smiled, and his mouth opened and was about to speak when Kyubi punched him hard in the face.

"SHUT UP!" she shouted, her face red. Laharl flew away, crashing into the ground with a large BAM! leaving poor Naruto looking confused more than ever. "Just… shut up about it, okay!" and she began to whisper more curses, and hide in the corner of the… well, room.

Laharl and Naruto watched the fox girl just mumble her way out, confusing and entertaining Naruto and Laharl respectively. "Hahaha, alright, now that she's gone, lets begin!" Laharl declared.

"ALRIGHT!" Naruto jumped up with joy.

**(Music: Daylight Dancer by Lacuna Coil)**

**- The Uzumaki Naruto Ninja Chronicles - **

**- Hidden Blood! Naruto, the new holder of the Demon Eyes! -**

The hospital was on the buzz, with very good news! Nurses screamed with joy! ANBU members were horrified. Fan girls began to flock! Almost everyone in Konoha rejoiced! Their hero, the last surviving member (that is still supposedly on their side) of the Uchiha Clan has been awakened!

The history in which he awakened will be written as this. The nurse was there, looking respectfully and longingly towards the boy who slid there, unconscious, while checking everything; his IV, his pulse, his temperature, doing a physical while she was at it, when suddenly, his eyes went open, and the nurse rejoiced. She had told the boy that he was fine, and the kidnappers who kidnapped him were gone, and he was safe and sound. She called in the ANBU, who immediately dispatched a messenger to go to the Hokage and inform of the awakening of Sasuke.

The nurse wasted no time, and told her fellow nurses that the boy was awake, and naturally, knowing women concerning their pretty boy idols, they suddenly act all girly and gossipy until the ANBU guarding Sasuke's door were suddenly attacked viciously by a pack of rabid fangirls who are bringing almost everything like flowers, chocolates, pictures of themselves, yet lacking a bit on modesty especially concerning clothes. Have you seen a flatchested girl trying a dress for the busty? Good god… Bless ANBU and their eyes… they need it against such horrific images.

Whilst a riot is going on in Sasuke's room, 3 rooms away, in the same floor, Naruto was in a zone, his mental state trying to swallow everything Laharl just told him.

"Um… you're telling me… that you're really half-demon?" Naruto asked, confused. "And combining with me, made me half demon as well?"

Laharl smiled, and nodded stupidly. "Yup, basically."

"And… not a normal demon… but a full blooded Overlord, the **leader** of Netherworld?" Naruto asked again, putting some stress on the world 'leader'.

"Well, not anymore," Laharl shrugged. "When I was alive, I was a half-Overlord, part-human and part mystic fox. I don't know what you compose of now… probably more human, but still, half of you would be a demon."

Naruto's head went down, his forehead having twitch marks. He liked Laharl more alive than combined with him. First, he had an older brother that helped him a lot. Second, when he combined with Laharl, not only did he have freaky powers, but he also has two curses as well. Third, he was now officially, a demon… well, half demon, but who the fuck cares, right? God must be laughing at him.

"Laharl… I don't think I can live like these…" Naruto said in a strained voice. "The people won't accept me like this!"

Laharl sighed. "Oi, have you forgotten?" he asked. "You're well hidden thanks to the Demon Eyes. Fox details you have are hidden, your eyes… I don't know. They might be normal or red… depends, and you still will look humanoid. Sure… you might grow some small fangs, and maybe your birthmarks in your face might be a bit more pronounced… but still, they won't think you're a demon."

"About that…" Naruto suddenly had a question in mind. "What the hell is the Demon Eyes?"

Laharl, smirked, and nodded. Everything went black again, and when Naruto could see again, he found himself in front of a white marionette with convincing eyes. Naruto stood there, unmoving. When he tried to move, he found out that he couldn't. "Nani?" he asked.

Laharl appeared beside the white marionette. "Demon Eyes is the term we use for Brain-Hack Optics. It's the unique power which was derived when sticking a very powerful Overlord Demon into a normal human being.

"You might wonder why I have a half-overlord, part human complex. Well, its starts with Laharl, a young Overlord, who had just beaten a Seraph Angel because his first love, a trainee Angel Flonne was cast down and turned to a rose."

Images suddenly burst. Naruto saw a young boy, much like Big Brother Laharl, except looked really young, and more evil looking, fighting with an Elder Angel who seemed to transport everywhere. Naruto was fascinated by the way Laharl, the boy, dashed, his face contorted in rage, slashing, and attacking the angel, who parried, dodged and countered almost every move. Finally, Laharl suddenly raised his arms, and dashed and jumped towards the angel, who just disappeared, and reappeared behind Laharl. The Demon Boy smiled, and twisted in midair, and turned a complete 180, and slashed the air. The ground split up, and the Elder Angel's eyes suddenly widened and were hit heavily, and had a huge gash across his chest. The battle was over.

"Laharl, the Original, as I call him, was able to beat the Seraph with one slash of his dimensional technique," Laharl continued. "He was about to finish him off when Laharl just dropped his sword, and went towards the rose, and raised his hands in the air."

Laharl the Original dropped his sword, and went towards where the rose lay, and hugged it. He raised his teary eyes up in the heavens, and raised his hand.

"Laharl asked God for a switch. He'd sacrifice his life for Flonne's. The deal was accepted, and Laharl died, giving his life force to the rose, who suddenly transformed to a demonic Flonne, and Laharl's soul went away," Laharl said, pointing at the images.

Laharl the Original's soul was bound for a while in Heaven, then was about to shoot to hell when suddenly, for no particular reason, his soul was sent to earth, with the music of **Nightwish **titled **Dark Chest of Wonders**, which coincidentally had no connection with the story whatsoever. He was plunged towards one human boy who was playing a weird game named Disgaea, which coincidentally was the story of Laharl.

"That's where I first met Laharl… a voice in my head, like you. And after a few weeks in staying inside my head, he suddenly came out and started giving me a choice," Laharl smiled. "It's really weird. He could have taken over completely, after all, he is a demon, but he gave me a choice. He told me that he'd combine with me… and we'd share memories. That's how Laharl with the Demon Eyes was born."

Naruto was back again, in front of the marionette with eyes.

"Demon Eyes is the evolution of Laharl's enormous demon powers being suppressed so it wouldn't kill the human body. Imagine this… such enormous power, if totally unleashed, it was like filling the balloon with 5 gallons of water. The balloon will burst. With the Demon Eyes, it's like filling it blood… or mercury, or any other thicker liquid, but with very less amount," Laharl explained. He showed two balloons, one very large, and the other one, quite small. "These are both of the same weight. One filled with water, the other with mercury. Demon Eyes is like the one filled with mercury. The power is much more condensed, yet can be used with less amount. Get it…?"

Naruto… contemplated at what he just heard. Everything just went too fast for him, but he could understand the gist… probably. "Um… Demon Eyes allows a human to use the enormous demon powers of Original Laharl without danger?"

"Ah, yes!" Laharl laughed. "Ne, you're smart! Good one!" Laharl laughed, a bit oblivious to Naruto's sweating face. It was obvious that he didn't get everything… at least he got part of it, ne?

"Now… let me show you when you use Demon Eyes to a person… look at the marionette please," Laharl said, smiling. Naruto did as Laharl told him, and concentrated a bit. He stared hard in the eyes, and waited… nothing. He concentrated more. Nothing. Naruto cursed.

"What the fuck!" Naruto exclaimed. "Its not working!"

Laharl laughed. "Of course not. You can't use the Demon Eyes cause you're inside your own mind!"

"Then… what the hell am I supposed to do?" Naruto demanded.

"Just sit back, and enjoy the ride. Coz right now, you're about to get a crash course in using the Demon Eyes to a living being…" Laharl smirked so evilly that Naruto knew something bad was going to happen.

That 'something bad' happened a second after Naruto thought that something bad was going to happen. He was forced to stare at the marionette's eyes, when suddenly, he felt a sudden rush as he practically zoomed towards the doll's eyes. In just a second flat, he practically felt like he just suddenly dove towards the marionette's eyes, and everything went red.

At first, Naruto was confused. Everywhere he saw, was red. Different shades of red. The background was pure red, and there were web lines of crimson red… and then, pulsating blasts of another shade of red seem to explode in every direction. He seemed to still be moving at high speeds, and Naruto looked at his left and right, unknowing on what to do, until everything stopped.

Laharl appeared once again in front of Naruto. "Yo. Like the view from here?"

Naruto wasn't amused this time. He'd seen freaky stuff, but this is the freakiest thing he'd ever encounter so far… next to it was that magic finger that the Tsunade-obachan has. "Laharl-nisan… what… was THAT!" Naruto shouted.

"Ah… just a quick peek at what happens when you look at people and use the Demon Eyes on them…" Laharl smiled. "Here is a quick overview. First, you'll feel that you'll get sucked into the person's eyes, right? And then, all becomes red? Right?"

"Right…"

"Good. Here is what I was able to break down so far. The red background represents the mental presence of living beings. I don't know why it's red… probably because of blood, which is colored red. But then again, if you use it on lobsters, which have blue blood, the background is still red…" Laharl pondered a bit, sitting cross legged on the floor, his back turned on Naruto.

"OI! I don't have all day!" Naruto shouted. Laharl turned back to him, and smirked.

"Oh yeah… forgot about you for a minute…"

"OI!" Naruto twitched.

"Yare, yare, gomen, gomen," Laharl laughed softly. "Anyway… red means you are in their minds. Now… this is where it gets complicated. Like I said, the Demon Eyes hack into the brains of living beings, whether they are insects, humans, lobsters, whatever. It will also work on demons, angels, goddesses… ero-sennins… etcetera."

Naruto smiled at the last comment. "Alright, question! What are the uses of Demon Eyes…? I mean really… just hack in the brain… so, what does that mean?"

"Well… lots of things really, depending on how strong you are," Laharl replied. "The most basic functions is to read the minds of people… view memories… mix a few memories up to make up a dream which lasts about a minute in the real world… but can last forever in the dream world. Then, the worst thing you can do is just go to the brain, and stop its function… literally killing your target just by staring."

"… Coooooooool!" Naruto whistled. "I LIKE THAT! When are you gonna teach me that!"

"Heh… when you're powers have grown more," Laharl smirked. "Right now, you're just a fledging… or as a fox might put it… a kit. My guess is that you would probably be able to use the Demon Eyes twice… and only to weave up dreams and illusions."

"WHA? Hey! I WANT the death stare!" Naruto complained. "COME ON! Teach me that! So no one can mess with me after that!"

"Eh… are you deaf? I said you can't. Not because I can't teach you, but because you can't! Come back after ten years or so, when you're Demon Eyes have grown specifically."

Naruto crossed his arms. "HMPH! Stupid powers…"

"Hey, come on. Viewing memories and making them to illusions is hard… especially when you go through his mind like a Porsche on Viagra…" Laharl replied in a low tone.

"Porsha…? Bayagra? What the heck are those!" Naruto asked, confused. Laharl sighed.

"Never mind…" Laharl looked up. "Anyways… see those?" he pointed at the pulsing red flashes near the web of crimson lines. "Those are memories of the target. Depending on the significance, size will vary from very large, meaning important memory, to mere dots, implementing that the memory is insignificant."

Naruto looked at the pulses. He looked at them again. Memories? They were supposed to be memories…? Of what? They are just… red spots! "Um… Laharl-nisan… how can I view those memories exactly? They just look like a blob of blood…"

Laharl laughed out loud. "Hahaha! Well, that's because those memories… are blanks!"

Naruto paused. "Uh… blanks?"

Laharl hit Naruto hard behind the head. "Well, DUH! What, you think a demonstration would have memories? Pshhh. Right. When Elephants fly. When you really delve in the mind of a person, you'll see his whole memories in each pulsing flash. It will overwhelm you; I'm telling you, using Demon Eyes will strain your mind, which is why I have to warn you of the overuse of the Demon Eyes." Laharl's face went serious. "I can't guess specifically how many times you can use it, but here is the general rule. One, there is a limited amount of times in which you can use it. You'll know when you are at your limit when suddenly you feel indescribable pain in your head when you try to overuse it. Two, don't use the Demon Eyes on the same person twice in a row. Delving into the same mind twice will give you a false sense of déjà vu…"

"Déjà vu?" Naruto asked.

"You know… something happened before which similarly is happening now…" Laharl explained. "For example, you see Konoomaru pass by a street, and some time later, you see him pass the same street again… or maybe someone that looks like him. Déjà vu."

"Uh… okay…" Naruto said, confused. "So… what's wrong with delving to the same mind twice? So what if I might get déjà vu?"

"It will mess up your senses, and memories. The last time I tried to do that, I was stuck in the person's head… all his memories were flashing like that… it was terrible. I almost didn't make it out… and when I did…" Laharl frowned. "I was exhausted… and he… landed in a coma. Its dangerous trying to hack into the same brain twice. You're target's mind would either put up a very fatal defense, or you might just rack your mind so hard that it would stop functioning… or worse, you'd get lost in his memories, ultimately making yourself and your target insane."

"Alright… so… only use Demon Eyes within limit… and only use them on one person once…" Naruto stated, thinking. "But… if that's true… then it's useless! I mean… If I can only use it twice, then, that's it? And I can't use it to the same person twice? So… its like… after I use it to my limit, that's it?"

"For the day," Laharl nodded. "It takes at least 24 hours to use them again, and by that time, you can use it to the same person, and use them to the limits again. Remember… it's your mind which gets strained, and if anything, straining your mind to the limit is a no-no. Brain cells never regenerate… you break 'em, you lose 'em."

"Alright… it isn't so bad… I can use them over and over again as long as I give it a 24 hour gap…" Naruto nodded his head silently.

"Yes. But remember. At your level, I guess you could only use it twice, and remember that you can't use it on the same person on the same day," Laharl muttered. "It's not a power you should just use at the drop of the hat. It's a power in which you have to use only when you need to. Don't throw away the chances of using them for simple reasons, because there might be a time, where you are cornered, injured, and bleeding to death and you can't defeat the opponent because you used the Demon Eyes on his weak pawns. Okay?"

"Alright, alright. Man… this sucks," Naruto muttered. "I can't show it off…"

Laharl hit Naruto at the back of his head, making the blonde boy fall face first. "Naruto… baka."

Naruto stood up at once, and raised his fist. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT FOR!"

"Naruto… this isn't about how you can show your techniques off. I'm showing you how to use my powers to allow you to survive," Laharl said seriously, "especially in your case, Naruto. You do know that you have Overlord Blood in you… right?"

"Yeah, you told me!" Naruto nodded a bit, seriously.

"And you know Demons never age… right?" Laharl asked, slowly.

"… Uh, they don't?"

"Nope…" Laharl replied.

"Alright… so what does it have to do with me?" Naruto asked.

"… Not much…" Laharl replied, smiling a bit. "Not much at all. You'll figure it out soon. Anyway… time to teach you about your scalpels!"

* * *

"Good afternoon, Hokage-sama," Sasuke said unemotionally as he saw Tsunade enter. He really didn't know that woman that much… even by reputation. 

"Good afternoon to you too, Uchiha-san," Tsunade said, also with the same tone. "I guess you're a bit surprised to find yourself here… aren't you?"

"Not really…" Sasuke replied. "After all… I was defeated…" Sasuke's teeth clenched at that. Of all people that would have beaten him… he might have taken it easier if it was Kakashi, or maybe that Chuunin Nara… but by that dobe, Naruto?

"It might have been better that way," Tsunade nodded tone still emotionless. "We cannot lose powerful ninjas like you. Especially to one of our enemy nations."

"…" Sasuke didn't mutter anything. He felt it was better this way. After all, he wasn't going to stay here forever. He was momentarily stalled. He's going to Orochimaru as soon as he gets his chance. And he will have one soon. After all, with his name… as much as he hated using his name, he'd be only set back momentarily.

"Uchiha-san… be glad that Naruto had rescued you," Tsunade declared. "If not… you would never have gotten your chance of revenge against your older brother, Itachi."

"What do you mean by that?" Sasuke asked.

"I will explain it to you once you're cleared for release in the hospital. I just came here to tell you one thing," Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "I don't care for whatever reason. If you ever try to leave the village for Orochimaru again, I myself will the one to kill you. Powerful ninjas like you are essential to the village… but, if there is any inkling in you in turning coat like your brother…" Tsunade left that sentence hanging.

Silence followed, with Tsunade staring at Sasuke who was sitting down on his bed, looking straight at the wall. After a few minutes, Sasuke's eyes went towards Tsunade's. "I am not like my brother. I will kill him."

"You are following his footsteps, Uchiha-san," Tsunade replied in a low tone. "Whether you admit to or not. As for you killing him… you have the potential. But that potential is going to waste if go to Orochimaru."

"… how would you know?" Sasuke's voice cut the air like a sharp knife. "He gave me power… he's given me something which I have dreamed about for a long time."

"You think that 'power' he gives you is for free?" Tsunade replied back, voice as sharp as Sasuke's. "Once you recovered, and released from the hospital, I'm telling the ANBU to bring you to my office at once. You're going to hear exactly what Orochimaru wants from you, and how that power from your Cursed Seal works. I should know… he was my teammate before."

Tsunade turned around, and left without another word, while Sasuke was there, staring at her retreating back. He contemplated on the events that have happened today.

* * *

"Everything about your scalpels is mental," Laharl explained. He raised his hands, and suddenly, four scalpels rose in the space between his fingers. "To call them, just think of calling them. They appear automatically once you need them." 

"Wow… those scalpels are really cool!" Naruto smiled, and nodded a lot.

"Yeah… quite useful," Laharl nodded back. "Not only do they respond to all your thoughts, but they can also be used to form other weapons. Here, let me show you." Laharl took out more scalpels, and placed about ten to fifteen pieces in his hand. And slowly, he closed his hand, and a red glow emanated from his palm, and suddenly, a red katana extended from his closed fist.

"WAAAHHH! Amazing!" Naruto's eyes went wide. "How'd you do that?"

"Just like I said… everything is mental," Laharl replied. "All you have to do is provide the ample material, which are the number of scalpels, and thoughts of what weapon you want. The scalpels are special tools… do you know why they are red?"

"Um… nope?"

"They are red because they are coated with a weak power directly derived from the Demon Eyes," Laharl replied. "In short… they are directly linked to your brain. Whatever you think, whatever you feel, whether you act upon on instincts, these little babies will act like second limbs for you."

"Cooooool!" Naruto raised his fist. "YATTA! Weapons that will obey me! Does that mean I can make them fly where I want? And I can make new weapons with them! WAAAH! Hahahaha! No one can stop me!"

Laharl just rolled his eyes. "At your stage, there are but only just a few million people out there that can beat you."

"NANI?" Naruto shouted angrily. "What do you mean there are a million people that can beat me! Name one!" Naruto crossed his arms.

"How about… Aaron?" Laharl's smirk became more pronounced.

"That bastard? I'll beat him silly you just watch!" Naruto declared.

Laharl smiled, and sat on the floor. "Well… if you somehow beat him… I'll take back what I said, and I'll acknowledge you for being unbeatable."

"Eh… you smiling like that makes me think you got no faith in me…" Naruto mumbled.

"Well… as much as I have faith in your abilities… I have the logic of realism that you can't kick everyone's ass," Laharl pointed at him. "There is always someone, out there, stronger than you. That's a fact."

"Hmph… you make it sound like I can't beat everyone…"

"Well, duh. What? You think that somewhere out there, you're unbeatable?" Laharl asked sarcastically.

"Well… yeah," Naruto bluntly replied. "I train everyday to kick everyone's ass, and prove that I am the greatest Ninja alive, and be the Hokage!"

"You train to survive…" Laharl replied back. "Survival is the name of the game, not glory, Naruto. Remember what I said?"

"Yeah, yeah… people won't remember idiots who get killed by some other more idiotic moron because he was too overconfident," Naruto muttered.

"Exactly. Not all battles are won by winning the fight," Laharl stated in a wise-like manner. "It's persevering until the end which win battles. You can't win if you die."

Naruto sighed, and sat down, grumbling some words which weren't understandable. Laharl slowly looked at the boy, and closed his eyes, his own fox ears twitching, listening to the boy rant. He ranted for a few minutes, and Laharl just sat there, listening.

"And he expects me to be beaten… or run away like a coward… I got all this great moves… can't show them off… No one should be able to beat me… since I have Laharl-nisan's powers…"

After a few minutes, Naruto went silent. Laharl gave him another minute before he himself talked again with Naruto concerning the topic. "Look, Naruto, I'm not going to dictate every movement you make. You don't move that way. It's best if you find things by yourself, and learn them. I given you ample knowledge on how to use your new skills, but you still need to practice them. You still have a lot to learn. That's why try your hardest to survive every encounter you face. If there is an opponent you can't take on, then don't. You'll not be unbeatable if you die. Remember that."

"… hai, Laharl-nisan," Naruto replied in a low tone.

"Good. Don't push yourself hard. Train to beat your opponents, train to survive. If you can't beat someone, train harder until you can," Laharl said, standing up.

"Hey… where you going, Laharl-nisan?" Naruto asked as he saw Laharl beginning to fade once again.

"I thought you everything to what you needed to know about your Demon Eyes and scalpels. Oh… wait… there is one last thing," Laharl looked at Naruto. "You can also make scalpels from raw materials… actually, any materials. Bu depending on what materials, it will affect the quality of your scalpels. Use steel for strong scalpels, and glass or diamonds for very sharp ones. Experiment with the elements, and make up your own scalpels as you go. The Grade 5 scalpels you have currently inside are just as good as any normal throwing star. But once you progress your level, make more powerful scalpels along the way."

"Ne… how do you make scalpels?" Naruto asked.

"Simple. Gather the material in your arm, focus your power, or chakra there, and just picture scalpels. Close your hands, and they'll form automatically," Laharl replied. He gave the small boy a smile. "Hehe, Naruto… you're growing up to be a fine lad. Remember… don't overdo things? Okay? Practice everything I have told you!"

Naruto watched as Laharl's visage began to vanish from his eyes. It had happened on the first scroll, so it was a bit normal for him to see his brother vanishing again. Everything went black for him.

* * *

Laharl walked around the room, and spotted Kyubi sitting patiently, her fox ears twitching every now and then. He sighed. "Kyubi-chan, Naruto's going to be awake soon. You should go as well." 

Kyubi looked at Laharl with an unreadable face. Her eyes began to flicker some sort of fire behind them. Laharl had seen that look many times when he was still 'alive'. "Laharl… you've been hiding lots of things from me."

"So… you heard some things," Laharl replied, nonchalant. It didn't bother him much that Kyubi had overheard them. Part of him was glad, though.

"I had an idea that you weren't a normal human. Fox ears, and fox tail had made you part of my clan, the Mystic Foxes, with one Tail, the lowest rank of our kind…" Kyubi said, her mind still contemplating. "You must imagine how doubtful I am, knowing you're actually in another level from me; a half demon Overlord… one of a higher plane than me, a mere mystic fox with Absolute Chakra."

"I'm not really much more powerful than you, Kyubi-chan," Laharl smiled. "I'm more human than demon. You can beat me, if we compare your power with mines. You beat me by a lot."

"But you have the Demon Eyes… which can stop my brain from functioning when you want…"

"Hai… but when I tried, I got lost in your mind, remember? And you were also there," Laharl countered. "Hey… don't you get… confused, or grow curious on why my Demon Eyes never worked on you?"

"… you got me there," Kyubi replied. "We never really thought about it…"

"Yeah… think about it next time… and we'll talk next time Naruto uses the third scroll," Laharl gave the fox a hug. "Until then, Kyubi-chan?"

She hugged back. "Until then, Laharl."

For Kyubi, everything went black.

* * *

Naruto's awakening was not due to the shouts of the female populace in the hall, just outside of his room. Although it could have been… Nurses and Medic-nins were called from off duty to stop the mob from entering one room. It seems the ANBU are no match to rabid fan girls. 

His head hurt like hell… you know when you get hit by three thousand liters of vodka, lived to tell the tale, and slept only for a few hours? Yup… that kind of headache. Naruto sighed. He wanted to shout outside in his loudest voice "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" but of course, his headache seemed to stop him from doing so. He sighed.

Naruto looked at his hands, and then, mentally called his scalpels out. Four came out in each hand through the spaces between his fingers, but he had to wince. They came out rather painfully… but the pain vanished as soon as it came. Naruto smiled. Taking the eight scalpels, placed it in his hand, he closed his hands and thought of a kunai.

He opened his palm again, and smirked with a wide smile. There was a crimson kunai in his hand. He threw it up in the air, and watched as it zoomed around the place, following his command. Laharl was right… it was like an extra limb.

_**Why don't you go out and practice it?**_

Naruto closed his eyes. "Maybe… yeah, maybe I'll practice in the practice area."

Naruto quickly looked around for his dress… He found his pants, and his shirt, but his jacket was nowhere in site. Taking out his hospital gown, he put on his black shirt, and his pants as well. He looked at his table, and saw the necklace which was given to him by Tsunade, and wore it proudly around his neck. He also took his forehead protector, but instead of tying it to his head, he tied it around his upper right arm.

He wanted to exit through the door… but felt against it. There was a mob of females there… and possibly maybe a few medic-nins and nurses… he didn't want people to inform Tsunade that he was awake… at least not yet.

Like Aaron, he found himself looking at the window. He smirked. That's his cue to exit.

* * *

Naruto jumped from tree to tree, getting the feeling of calling his scalpels and throwing them. It was actually quite fun. Instead of reaching towards his pockets, all he had to do was flick his wrist, and call them out, and throw it at where he wanted it. Very cool for the Number One Loudmouth Ninja's standards.

He landed on the ground and threw a few more scalpels at a tree, each scalpel hitting the tree with fast speeds. Naruto smiled. Ninja stars and Kunais never felt this good to throw. He's sticking with the scalpels for the meantime… practice throwing them and aiming.

After thirty minutes, Naruto smiled as he was able to hit most of the scalpels to the middle part of the tree. Controlling the scalpels was harder than he thought, but it was easier than anything else he ever used.

A resounding clap was heard, and Naruto stopped breathing for a bit. His head flew around wildly, looking for the source of the sound. He saw Aaron, sitting on top of a tall branch of a tree, looking down on him.

"Nice… you seem to be practicing the power Laharl gave you," Aaron stated.

Naruto gave him an ugly look. "What the hell do you want, you bastard?"

"Oh, nothing, just… watching the little blonde midget prancing around, using his new powers," Aaron smirked. "Of course, not that it matters. I can kick your ass without trying."

Naruto twitched on both the midget and the 'kick your ass without trying' comment. "OI! If you're so sure about that, why don't you come on down here, and taste my knuckles, chump!"

"Me, go down to your level?" Aaron said with a raised eyebrow. "I think not. If you want, climb up here… unless of course, you can't use those short leg of yours to jump up here… I mean, even Akane Tendo could make it here…"

Naruto didn't know Akane Tendo… but he knew what Aaron was implementing. He was challenging him. He was underestimating him… and he called his legs short. His eyes narrowed with anger, and without using the a seal, he automatically placed chakra around his feet and legs, and suddenly dashed towards Aaron, climbing up the tree vertically, his fist cocked, and his mouth shouting with anger.

"AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH! Take this you bastard!" Naruto said as he dashed up the tree.

"Oh, the brat has some fight…" Aaron smirked, and droped down at once from his position, and landed directly in Naruto's face, his two feet stomping the boy, and stopping him from climbing up.

After the face stomp, Aaron back-flipped in the air, and gracefully landed on the ground near the tree. Naruto, on the other hand, landed on his back painfully, after having being stomped on his face. He slid there, seemingly unconscious, and unmoving. Aaron looked at the boy, and shook his head.

"Is that all it took?" Aaron said, making 'tsk' sounds repeatedly. "Just a brat, I guess…" and he turned on his back and began to walk away.

But it was only after 3 steps when he felt the wind wheeze through his left ear. Looking at what passed through his ear, he saw a red scalpel sticking the tree in front of him. He slowly smiled, and turned around.

Naruto was there, breathing deeply. On his hand, he held four scalpels, ready to launch them. "You bastard… don't turn your back on me!"

"Well, well, well… you got some bite to your bark… you might even make it to Budsy's level… I doubt it though," Aaron laughed softly.

"SHUT UP! Don't call him that! Laharl-nisan is Laharl-nisan!" Naruto shouted. "I'm gonna show you… that I can kick your ass!"

"If so… bring it on!" Aaron said, his feet spreading, his arms ready for a fight. Naruto didn't need any more encouragement as he charged towards Aaron with intent to kill.

**To Be Continued**

**Next: Aaron and Naruto face off! Naruto will then face Sasuke for the first time since their last fight! And last… Naruto, officially the student of Ero-sennin! NEXT! **


	6. Dark Trickster's Test! The Lesson Begins...

Last time on the Uzumaki Naruto Ninja Chronicles: Naruto learned some of the secrets of his new powers, including the power of the scalpel blades. He also discovered that Laharl ni-san was actually half overlord, a very powerful type of demon. While practicing with scalpels, the mysterious "friend" of Laharl, Aaron, appears. He challenges Naruto and dares him to fight.

**The Uzumaki Naruto Ninja Chronicles**: _Dark Trickster's Test! The lessons begin!_

"Before we start… stop right there!" Aaron orders, pointing his finger at Naruto, who was charging towards him. Naruto stopped automatically.

"What is it! I'm kicking you're ass, so don't you try running away!" he replies.

Aaron looks at Naruto, and puts his hand on his chin. "You know, I feel that I have forgotten something." He snaps his fingers. "Oh yes, now I remember." He then raises his hand and snaps his fingers three times. An odd techno beat starts playing. "Dark Samus Battle 1. Buds may not have told you this, but I enjoy fighting to music a lot. Now then, shall we continue with this lesson?" Naruto blinks.

"Lesson. What do you mean lesson?" Naruto asks, looking towards Aaron as man throws back his head and laughs.

"A lesson in abject humility, shorty. I'd rather not have someone who could give me a challenge bite the dust 'cause they were too stupid and picked fights with those who are their betters," he gives a quite painful reply. Naruto blinks again.

"Wha…?"

_**He means you're too weak to be fighting him and that he's going to beat you up easily, baka!**_

Naruto winced at what Kyubi had just old him. "HE WHAT!"

Aaron sighs, watching Naruto's antics. "And this is what I'm reduced to dealing with? If it weren't for the tails and fox ears, I'd have second thoughts of you inheriting Laharl's power."

Naruto pales... It was natural of course; after all, his brother himself said that nobody would be able to see through the cloak the Demon Eyes made. And, there was even a greater problem… if Aaron could see them, would it mean the others could see it too?

His face gives it all away, and Aaron smirks at that. "Let me guess. You don't know how I saw through it. Well, I'll tell you." He walks over a bit, not noticing the way Naruto suddenly went rigid, and ready to battle it out, and whispers in Naruto's ear. "That's a secret. And even if it wasn't, you're not smart enough to understand the why of how I did it, midget."

Naruto clenches his fist at the statement. "I'm gonna beat you up for making fun of me!" He takes a wild swing at Aaron, who ducks under it and rams an elbow into Naruto's chest. "Damnit! Ow… You bastard!" he growls, and going down to a knee.

Aaron sighs. "Get up, I really don't want to be disappointed. And I'm being disappointed already."

"Shut up!" Naruto shouts, and pulls some scalpels out of his hands again, and forms them into a kunai. Standing up once again, he readies himself. "You're going down!"

"Well, you might not be worthless after all," Aaron replies, pulling his sash off and holds it between his two hands. Naruto dashes towards him, and does an overhead strike, only to have Aaron block with the cloth and kick him away. "A mere blade can't pass through the iron cloth."

Naruto didn't comment, and with his other hand, throws a few more scalpels at Aaron. Aaron spins the cloth and leaps into the air. Most of the scalpels are dodged, the rest are deflected.

"Not even close. Buds could ensure they made it through the shield." He chuckles, still in the air. "Well then, here's one of my specials. Messatsu." He rears back his arm, and then shoots a fireball from it at Naruto.

Naruto's eyes widen and he jumps out of the way. Aaron responds by shooting multiple fireballs at Naruto. Naruto dodges like crazy, bending over to dodge one, only to roll out of the way of another. A stray shot nails him and knocks him down, smoking slightly.

Aaron finally lands on the ground, looking at the boy. "Come on, that wasn't even full power." He slowly watches the boy stand up, grimacing, and his eyes still glaring at him. With a quick combination of seals, Naruto was finally able to call out one of his key techniques.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he shouts, and three Narutos appeared around the original Naruto. They wasted no time, as they suddenly surround Aaron.

"Nice," he said, as he got ready, looking at the clones surrounding him. The first one tries to punch him in the face, only to have Aaron use his cloth and grabs it's arm and throw it at another copy. They both exploded to smoke. Two more Narutos attacks from the air. "Go shoryu ken!" Aaron leans down, and then does a rising uppercut with flames surrounding him.

The two Narutos both try to give Aaron a flying kick as Aaron ascends towards them with a flaming punch. Naruto wanted to curse, and stopped his attack midway by using his clone as a pedestal to control his movement in the air. He was given only a slight scratch by Aaron's attack. His clone wasn't too lucky, as it was hit directly, and disappeared in a pile of smoke.

Due to gravity, Aaron descended after the attack, and Naruto gets a good idea. While descending, he uses Kage Bushin no Jutsu again, he calls forth a clone under him, and uses It as a support, and jumps back up towards Aaron with a closed fist ready, and knocks him down. The man tumbles down, but recovers at once, landing on his feet. He gets up, and starts laughing.

"Hahahahaha. Well, that was much better. Show me more," he said, smiling. Naruto needn't need to be told on twice, and dashes towards Aaron, once again using hand seals to call forth 3 more clones, and attack with series of punches. Aaron weaves through the range of blows, and delivers a spinning kick to all 3 of them. They kip up and then explode into clouds of dust again. Naruto calls more clones, and this time, the clones charged with scalpels in their hands.

"Tatsumaki Zanku Kyaku," Aaron declares his attack, hovers in the air, just above the ground, and does a spinning kick with lightning trailing his leg, kicking away all Naruto's clones away from him, once again, turning to clouds of dust. Aaron stands there, waiting for the clouds to clear a bit, and when it does, he stares at Naruto. "If this is all you are capable off, then you're not worth fighting."

"Nani?" Naruto clenches his fist. "I'll show you my true power then!" and with that, he calls upon 6 clones. "I'll show you what happens to people who underestimate me!"

His five clones suddenly dash towards Aaron, who didn't seem to look impressed, and with a quick spin kick and a punch, he took out five clones out. He suddenly felt a concentration of energy from where Naruto was positioned. Using his sash to completely blow away the smoke, he saw Naruto and a clone, a ball of blue spinning chakra two clones to his side. "The Rasengan!" Aaron smiles, and also raises an eyebrow. "So this is the legendary move… I'm surprised that someone as young as you have learned it! But…" he moves to a defensive position, "Do you believe that you can hit me with that?"

"Heh! Watch me!" Naruto declares, and suddenly, his clone charges towards Aaron, with intent to attack again. Aaron was about to defeat the clone when he felt the wind shift behind him slightly behind him. He turned his head only for a second, and his eyes widened a bit as he saw the scalpel which Naruto had first thrown, which has been stuck in the tree the whole time, suddenly moving behind him.

He was about to take it out when the scalpel just flew towards another target. To Aaron's surprise, the target is actually the clone which was charging towards him, and hit the clone squarely in the chest, making it disappear in a puff of smoke again, blocking Aaron's view. That's where Naruto charges Aaron with the Rasengan on his hand.

"Ha! Take this! RASENGAN!" Naruto shouts his attack loud, pushing his hand towards Aaron's surprised form. The man In question just blinks as he sees Naruto charge towards him, with a blue ball of spinning chakra in his hand, going towards his abdomen. He grimaces when he sees how the ball of energy seem to move.

"Oh, it spins like a drill. Fuck, This is gonna hurt..."

The shot slams into his stomach and starts hitting him. He falls down, with a hole in his abdomen. Naruto gapes in shock. "Oh my god! Kyubi-nechan! I killed him! I didn't mean to...!"

_**Umm, Naruto, behind you...**_

He turns and sees a smirking Aaron with a hole in his side rapidly closing itself, with strange energy flashes and no blood. He gapes and his jaw drops. "Oh my God… wha…?"

"Good shot kid, but not quite enough. You really need to see, that, you and I, are in a whole other league compared with most people." He grabs Naruto's face. "Oh, and payback's a bitch. God press." He rushes with Naruto in his hand and slams him into a tree.

Naruto groans as he gets up. "Ouuuu what the hell...?" Kyubi starts shouting about towards him, her voice echoing around his head.

_**Wake up Baka! Aaron's still there!**_

"Ow ow ow ow! Cut it out ne-chan! You're voice is just bouncing…"

Aaron looks on with a sweatdrop. "Family argument?" He sighs. "Whenever you're ready, weakling." Naruto turns with an angry expression.

"Okay, so you survived the Rasengan… don't know how… I'll still kick your ass, cause I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage!"

Aaron turns with a serious expression. "That's your reason for fighting? Pathetic." He begins charging energy. "You've impressed me that you have potential and guts, two things I like. However, you must train a lot longer, because you're not ready yet." The energy blossoms around him. "Now, Uzumaki Naruto, successor of Laharl, and wielder of the Kyubi chakra, allow me to show you the chasm of our power difference..." As he is speaking, Aaron begins to float, until he is 3 feet off the ground. "Psycho Crusher!"

He hurls himself encased in blue flame like ki spinning like a drill. Naruto tries to block directly. Kyubi's voice seems to ring out in Naruto's head.

_**No! Naruto! GET OUT OF THE WAY! The energy concentration he's using is… lethal! If you get hit…!**_

It was too late, as Naruto grits his teeth, as he takes it head on with a defensive block.. Aaron's energy continues to collide against him. "Super Psycho Crusher!" The energy doubles and Naruto's only defense collapses.

"AHHHHHHH!" he shouts, falling down, the energy burning him.

**_Naruto! Speak to me!_** Kyubi's voice cries out.

"Impressive. To be able to block the Psycho Crusher and have that kind of will power. Lucky for you, I decided not to exhaust your energy and instead used the Super Psycho Crusher to simply overwhelm you," Aaron walked towards Naruto's fallen form. The boy groans.

"What hit me?"

"I did, and you, midget, impressed me." Naruto looks and sees Aaron smiling while leaning back on a tree stump.

"Bastard..." he mutters, as he attempts to unsteadily rise to his feet. A snap of Aaron's sash knocks his legs out from under him.

"Sit down, I have a few things to say, and I'd like to get them out before the Anbu show up and ask questions. First off, Uzumaki, for what reason do you fight?" Aaron asks, serious, and smile aside. "Think about it. Don't give me some answer without thought."

Naruto thinks for a minute. "To be stronger! I'll be the strongest ninja alive, and become Hokage! With that, people will acknowledge my existence!"

Aaron snorts. "Pathetic. That alone is not enough. It is a flawed reason and thus you cannot win." Aaron gets up and starts twirling his sash around him. "Before I leave you Naruto, I'll give you some advice." He gave Naruto another serious look. "One, seek a pure reason for fighting, even if it is fighting for its own sake." He points at Naruto's head. "Two, do not hide the traits of the fox. I don't know why, but even Laharl seemed ashamed of it, hiding it behind his Demon Eyes. I don't think anything is wrong with fox features… and three, don't try to copy my style or moves. There are reasons that buds will explain why you can't." He then raises a finger. "And last but not least, get a better outfit."

Naruto facefaults. "Wha…?"

"Seriously. That orange one is lousy. It offends my eyes. Even Principal Kuno and Azusa Shiratori wouldn't wear something that ugly."

"Who the hell are they?" Naruto asks.

Aaron reaches into his shirt and pulls out two pictures, one of a man in a bad Hawaiian shirt with a pineapple tree on his head, and the other of a girl dressed in sickeningly cute pink. "The principle I should hurt on general principle for wearing a Hawaiian shirt that bad."

"Ewwww! What the hell…. Did they have their mommies dress them!" Naruto asked, in the edge between disgust and laughter.

Aaron grimaces. "I can tell you now that a gay man would have a heart attack seeing that kind of garbage. Then again, I don't like it either, but I'm not your average person." He shifts to a female form with a c-cup chest and about 2 inches shorter in height. "For instance, this form, I happen to like it."

Naruto looks at her for a minute… gapes… and jumps away. "W-What are you! You were a guy… and now…!"

Aaron sighs. "There is a place, it is called Jusenkyo, and it contains pools that hold spirits. Fall into a pool, and you are cursed with that body, and occasionally a different mindset. The curse is normally triggered by cold water and reverses by hot. I fell into the Nyannichuan, spring of drowned girl, and learned to control the curse."

Naruto looks at her from head to toe... "Uh…. so… do you like guys or girls?"

Aaron coughs. "I should not say, at least most of the time. You are somewhat cute, but too young and you piss me off like Budsy does."

"… Eh… forget it… don't tell me! I don't want to know! Especially if you like guys… ugh… I mean… you're a guy!" Naruto scratched his tongue.

"Actually gender-wise, I prefer the term aqua-transsexual. Then again, if you manage to figure out what I really am, you'll understand why gender is irrelevant." She shifts back to her male form, and spins the sash rapidly. "Say hi to Kyubi and Laharl for me. We'll meet again, Oni Me no Naruto. (Naruto of the demon eyes)." He fades into the ground with a sound like someone passing through water. "If you remember what my other form looks like and the name I go under in that form, then I will grant you a match with my full power." His voice rings out as he fades. "Ahahahahahah..."

Naruto just stares at the empty space… his mind confused. Slowly, he raised his fist, and raised his index finger. He didn't know if Aaron was around to hear him, but he still said it. "One… how did you know about Kyubi-nechan? Two… I'll do find my own style of fighting… I ain't no copying bastard like Sasuke-teme! Three… I'll be strong! You just wait!" He closes his fist.

Somewhere in the heart… or maybe soul of Naruto, he trusts the secret of Kyubi to Aaron. Maybe something of a friendship between him and Aaron… or maybe something else. Naruto won't fully know… but then, he doesn't need to know. He's going to learn it in the near future just exactly what Aaron is and his relationship with his brother Laharl.

Naruto looks at his hand… raises it. All the scalpels he threw suddenly jumped from where they have landed, and all went back to his hand. Once all of them were tucked inside him again, Naruto looks at his hand, and grimaces at the slight tinge of pain. He still has to get used to that. "Now what do I do…?" he asks himself. Before he can say anything else… his stomach grumbles. "I know! Its RAMEN TIME!"

With that, he suddenly jumps onto his feet like nothing had happened to him a few minutes ago, and began to run towards his favorite hangout. The Ramen Stand!

Uchiha Sasuke was surrounded by ANBU as he walked towards the office of Hokage. Many people waved, and greeted the Uchiha survivor with smiles, others shouted some compliments and other blessings towards the boy. Fan girls were looking at him with hunger. No one could get near though, as the ANBU had been warning people to step back.

Sasuke looked at each ANBU surrounding him. He knew why they were there. They provided him protection against the mob of fan girls and well wishers… but that was just a cover. Their real intention is to guard Sasuke, and prevent him from escaping. It didn't matter. His escape was on a later date, after he hears what Tsunade wants to talk to him about.

On Sasuke's left, 4 blocks, away from the crowds, Naruto was there, eating his fill of Pork Miso Ramen. He was on his third bowl, and still going strong. He and the old man were talking, with him doing most of the yabbering and jabbering, talking about how Hospital food seemed stale (even if he never got to ate at the hospital, just given a bag of Nin-V (IV)). He was about to delve more on his day's adventure, when suddenly, a voice caught his attention.

"I'll take a beef ramen."

Naruto froze, and suddenly turned his head towards the newcomer. "… YOU!"

"Yo, midget," Aaron smirked.

"What the hell are you doing here you bastard!" Naruto asked, his eyes narrowing, his hand twitching, ready to call out blades.

"I forgot to give you something," Aaron replied. "Ah, thank you…" he took the beef ramen, and began to eat. Naruto visibly relaxed, but still ever so cautious, stealing glances at the man while eating his own ramen. After a few minutes of silence (except the sound of sipping), Naruto looked at Aaron.

"What did you want to give me?"

Aaron placed his hand towards his sash, and grabbed a ripped, piece of cloth made into a ball, and put it in the table. Naruto looked at it, unsure what to make of it. It looked flimsy, yet the size of the ball seemed to show that the cloth's length was long… very long. It is also colored black… dark night black. Like no light could escape it.

"What… what's this?" Naruto asked, looking at the ball.

"I don't know myself, really," Aaron shrugged. "It's a piece of cloth. Budsy used it as a scarf that covered his mouth. I said to him it makes him really silly… using that like a Shinobi poser."

"Shinobi poser?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah… you know Shinobi, right? Ninja guy, walks fast, red scarf flowing behind him with the wind as he moves…? Budsy uses the scarf as the same way," Aaron sighed. "Stupid really."

"Don't call Laharl-nisan stupid, bastard!" Naruto muttered, grabbing the ball of cloth. His eyes widened as suddenly, the ball unfolded itself, and lunged towards Naruto's neck, and wrapped around it, covering his mouth as well. "What the fuck!" he muttered, voice muffled. "Hey! Get it off me! Get it off me!"

Aaron looked at him, and shrugs. "That never happened to me…"

The cloth unwinded itself from Naruto's neck, and suddenly went towards his right arm, and began to wrap around there. When it was done, Naruto now looked at his new black fingerless gloves. He flexed his fingers and arms a bit… "Weird…" It was comfortable, and didn't even feel like a glove. It felt natural… it was like fused to his skin.

"Heh… you're really Laharl's inheritor," Aaron smirked.

"What do you mean? Didn't you already tell me that?"

"With your fighting skills, I had doubted you... big time. And it also didn't help you being heightly challenged," Aaron smirked.

"Shut up, bastard," Naruto muttered. "What's heightly challenged…?"

"Forget it," Aaron sighed. He looks towards Naruto, placing his empty bowl down. "Train a lot. Once the time comes, I'm going to beat you down again."

"Heh… next time, you're going to be crying your ass off," Naruto declares, pointing his chopsticks at Aaron. "That's a promise!"

"Whatever kid. Whatever," Aaron takes out a few coins, and places them on the table, and stands up, walking away.

"Weird bastard…" Naruto mutters. "Ah well… time to visit baa-chan!" and with that, slams his Ramen tickets on the table, and left after saying goodbye to the old man.

In the Hokage office, Tsunade watched as Sasuke suddenly began staring at her with intense eyes. The Hokage might be old, but concerning health and anatomy, she hasn't rusted yet. Sharp as the sharpest katana in the world, she had been studying the curse seal and its effects since the studying it first on Anko, Konoha's officially first Cursed Seal survivor.

She studied it extensively, the effects it has, and its primary focus. What she found scared her. The Cursed Seal is a complex seal, lodging in the neck area affecting the chakra flow in the body. It affects the chakra flow by accelerating metabolism to increase energy output, and forcefully pulling out the energy without restraint. In the long term, using the Cursed Seal for prolonged periods of time would exhaust all chakra reserves in a body, then would slowly be stealing life energies to keep it powered.

Sasuke's eyebrows raised a centimeter hearing that. He wasn't a genius for nothing… although not having smarts and brains like Sakura, he could more or less break down what it meant. If Tsunade's studies and theories are true, then using Level 2 would make him risking exhausting and diminishing not only his chakra, but also his life energy.

Of course, that is, if Tsunade was actually correct. "Heh… this is all interesting, Hokage-sama, but… I'd rather choose what the Cursed Seal can do. I have used it, after all."

Tsunade sighed, and shakes her head. "So has Anko, and she had been cursed way longer than you. I studied her really close, and experimented with the seal with multiple processes. The data I gathered are accurate."

"You can be wrong. After all, the one who fully knows the seal is the one who made it," Sasuke insists.

"Yeah… you're right," Tsunade glares at the boy. "Orochimaru is the only person who can fully explain what his Seal can do."

"So, its possible that it just gives power, and what you have studied, and everything you've conceived so far is all wrong," Sasuke smirks. He's gaining ground here.

"If that is so true… then why is Orochimaru, who created the Seal himself, not use it. Especially during the time where me and Jiraiya fought against him," Tsunade replies back. Sasuke suddenly loses his smirk and stays silent. "If what you say is true, then he should have used it during the time he was getting his behind kicked."

Sasuke turns away, unspeaking. Tsunade smiles. She just overturned his advantage.

"Uchiha-san, there is a reason why its called a cursed seal. You felt its power… yet if I'm correct, then its nothing but your own power run amock. Just imagine that as your potential. You can further increase it. You don't need to go to Orochimaru just for power," Tsunade states.

"You just don't want to lose me… and my power to Orochimaru," Sasuke whispers silently.

"Yes, of course. I'd be a complete liar saying no…" Tsunade frowns. "But… your bloodline ability is a threat to the village if you go to Orochimaru. I stand by what I said at the hospital. I'll kill you if you turn coat."

"Hmph…"

Tsunade took liberty in sitting down behind her desk again, with a neutral expression. Sasuke himself was also silent, looking at the wall like it has something interesting. After a few minutes, a few notable faint shouts were heard just outside the office.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S BUSY?"

"I have told you, Hokage-sama is in an important meeting… HEY! Get back HERE!"

"Screw you! Tsunade-baachan will see me!"

Tsunade suddenly looked up. Was that Naruto?

The doors opened, and revealed Naruto, walking in, followed by some rushing ANBU guards. "I'm sorry, Hokage-sama! We tried to stop him…"

"Eh… it's okay," Tsunade groans. "It seems people want to break in my office… Hey Naruto…"

"Yo!" Naruto greets. "Tsunade-baachan! I wanted to visit, so…" he sees Sasuke. "Eh, what are you doing here, Sasuke-teme?"

Sasuke freezes, looking as he looks at Naruto. His fist closes, and he tenses up, ready to pounce. "Naruto… baka."

"Eh… whatever," Naruto replies back.

"Naruto… why are you here?" Tsunade asks, deciding to break the ice before Sasuke just might break something in the office. "I didn't receive word of your recovery…"

"Eh… I escaped the hospital…" Naruto smiles. "Got through the window… coz everyone was like so noisy outside the room. Noisy bunch of girls and some shouting of orders. It was annoying."

"Really? Well, never mind. I was about to call you anyway, because we have something important to discuss," Tsunade gives a smile.

"Eh? What's up? Spill!" Naruto asks.

"Jiraiya feels you're ready to be his official student," Tsunade gives Naruto a smirk, and begins messing with his hair. "He's gonna train you for a good while… maybe a few years during his travels."

"EH? Really! YATTA!" Naruto jumps up and down. "I'm gonna learn lots of new jutsu! Then, I can kick anyone's ass!"

"I don't know where Jiraiya is… but he and I talked that you're going to leave as early as possible. Probably tomorrow…" Tsunade nods. "Unless you aren't up to it?"

"You kidding? Tomorrow sounds great! I'm going to learn lots!" Naruto raises his fist. "Yatta! I'm gonna prepare now! See You, baa-chan!"

The woman smiled at the child's antics and cheerfulness, but her forehead twitching a bit with the baa-chan comment. He and Jiraiya are made for each other, as Naruto, as much as he looks like Yondaime, acts more or less like Jiraiya when the sannin was young. Maybe except for the perverted part, but then again, that might come later. Tsunade frowns at that. She hopes that Naruto wont turn perverted or something.

As Naruto walked towards the exit, Sasuke blocks his path. He had a hard look on his eyes, and his fist was ready. Naruto stops in front of him, and stares at him hard. "You like it, don't you?" Sasuke asks in a hard tone. "You're the new fucking hero of the village. Aren't you happy? And now, you're being trained by a sannin… you must feel pretty good eh?"

"Whatever, Sasuke-teme," Naruto replies back, staring at Sasuke neutrally. Tsunade watches the two boys facing each other off. Not that she had anything against fighting, if Sasuke explodes in her office, and both Naruto and him throw jutsus all around her office, she's gonna kick some asses out of the door. "Now, if you don't mind, I have to pack."

Sasuke grabs Naruto's shoulder hard, stopping him on his tracks. "You think because you got lucky, and beat me with some new technique, you think you're BETTER than me! I'm challenging you! NOW! STEP OUTSIDE!"

Naruto looks at him, and frowns. "Why the hell should I fight you!"

"You took my dream from me… you fucking idiot," Sasuke growled. "Everything was fine for me… and you had to pull something out of nowhere, getting lucky, and beating me! I'm going to show you that you were just that! Lucky!"

"You're mad… because I stopped you from making the biggest mistake in your life…!" Naruto's face suddenly went dead serious, momentarily stunning both Tsunade and Sasuke. They never seen this face of Naruto before. "I'm not the idiot… YOU ARE! You know the shit you pulled! Sakura cried! SHE CRIED! For you! A no good traitor who was willing to sell out his village just for some stupid POWER! ALL THIS FOR YOUR STUPID REVENGE… STUPID REVENGE AGAINST YOUR BROTHER!"

"DON'T YOU DARE CALL MY AMBITION STUPID!" Sasuke shouts. "YOU ARE THE ONE WITH THE STUPID AMBITION! Hokage this, Hokage that… LIKE someone LIKE YOU could make it to HOKAGE standards! MY DREAM… no… My AMBITION is far more worthy than yours!"

"So worthy that you'll betray your village, and your friends!" Naruto asks, his tone hard.

"Don't talk like you know everything… I LOST EVERYTHING TO ME BY THAT BASTARD BROTHER OF MINE!"

"You think you're the only one who lost something! WAKE UP! Everyone around you suffers! Neji had that stupid seal on his head, his father died, maybe killed by his own clan because of its own discrimination! Sakura, she almost lost her most precious person! I lost a BROTHER! You want to talk about suffering! Why don't you look at other people and watch their suffering! Instead of wallowing on yours like some goddamned BRAT!"

"You… bastard…!" Sasuke growls, and punches Naruto hard in the face, knocking him off his feet. "You don't know how I feel! No one DOES!"

Naruto wiped the little blood which was escaping from his lip, and stared at Sasuke, who was twitching. "Yeah… I don't know how you feel exactly… but you're a fool if you don't see people out there wanting to help you." He stands up. "You couldn't beat La… me… because you yourself you can't defeat…"

"You just wait… I'll beat you so hard that you're going to cry about it for months!" Sasuke stares at Naruto hard.

"Then train hard… then wait for my return. We'll have a rematch then!" Naruto declares.

"By that time, you'll regret challenging me…"

"You wish, you bastard," Naruto gives him a last glare, and walks out of the office, and made his way back to the hospital.

Naruto walked in the front door, seemingly ignoring everyone else because they were ignoring him. He didn't mind. He had to put up with their attitude for so long, it's become a habit. Walking with silence towards where his room was, he opened the door, only to see a girl with short indigo hair and pale and white, pearly pupil-less eyes.

"Oh… hey, Hinata… what brings you here?"

Hinata, the Hyuga's very own Miss Shy Girl, stared with a tomato face at Naruto. Poor girl, bless her heart. She has the big heart to love… yet lacks the courage to commit. Or even admit her feelings. "Hi… Na… Naruto-kun…"

Naruto just gave a small smile at her. "What's up? What are you doing here?"

"I… I was… visiting… but… you… I mean…" she slowly presses her index fingers together.

"Oh, you came to visit, eh?" Naruto nodded, understanding. "Sorry I wasn't here to greet you. I sneaked out to visit baa-chan."

"Ah… okay…" Hinata went silent, and moves a bit, allowing Naruto to go towards the bed. He suddenly grabs the stuff on the bed… 5 scrolls, and a small package which Hinata didn't bother guessing whats inside. "Ano… Naruto…? Are you okay?"

She had heard him being injured and brought here by his Jounin instructor unconscious. She had wanted visit him earlier, but she couldn't find the courage to bring herself to. When she did, she walked inside an empty room, staring at practically nothing, wondering where he had gone to.

"Hmmm? Yeah, I'm okay. Just grabbing some stuff, cause I'm leaving soon," Naruto replies.

"Eh…?" Hinata gasps silently. "You… you're leaving…? Where?"

"Training trip with Ero-sennin," Naruto replies easily. "I'm going with him, and become stronger!"

"Um… that… that's nice… Naruto-kun," Hinata's head went down. "Goo… good luck…"

"Thanks a lot, Hinata," Naruto gave her one of his fox smiles. "You train as well, okay? I wanna see how much you will improve when I return!"

Hinata's head sunk lower, his cheeks almost glowing red. "H-hai…"

"Alright… anyways, ja ne!" Naruto waves and walks towards the door, exiting, leaving the shy Hyuga girl staring at the floor.

The day passed down fast, with Tsunade giving Sasuke his final sentence. He was given 2 years of house arrest, and he'll be guarded by ANBU all the time. As much as Sasuke hated it, he felt that he'd had gone for much worse. And it seems he can still continue his training, as Kakashi had told them he's going to visit the last Uchiha when he could.

Sakura had come home, informing her mom of her success… well, not really success because she was just accepted as Tsunade's student. Her mom, of course, cried with joy. It wasn't everyday their daughter would be taught by a sannin. Then again… it wasn't everyday her daughter was teamed up with that demon boy.

Naruto walked straight home, and packed the necessary stuff he needed. He grabbed his piggy bank, and cracked it, taking out the bills he had been saving for quite some time. Satisfied, he was pleasantly surprised when he found an envelope with loads of money inside. There was a note written by Tsunade herself, saying the money was the reward of a successful rescue mission, and some more for his travels. It also said to hide it from Jiraiya. Naruto did just that, hiding the big part of the money at the bottom of his bag.

He was about to pack his clothes, when he remembers what Aaron told him. He ponders a bit on the advice given to him, and shrugs. He'd pick up more clothes as he travels, so only took 5 of his jumpsuits. He'd also ask for Laharl's help with clothes when he has the chance. He also packed the scrolls and the package with scalpels in it. After another quick eat at Ichiraku Ramen Stand for dinner, he went home, and slept really early.

Jiraiya, after talking to Tsunade an hour before Naruto left her office, didn't spend much of his day doing anything except peeking at the baths, not really worried about tomorrow. He was going to teach Yondaime's son… it wasn't something he didn't do before. And this kid was showing potential. His last mission proved it.

Sasuke had nothing to do, except go to the secret opening in his house, and read a few scrolls. For the next two years, he won't have missions, won't see anyone outside unless they visit, and in short, bore himself with training for the next 24 months with ANBUs guarding his ass.

The next morning came without much incident, maybe except Tsunade calling all the villagers as she had an announcement to make. The announcement was simple… it was a edited version of the events of what had happened when Sasuke was kidnapped. She had explained on how Sasuke was lured by Orochimaru, tricked him saying he'd give the boy power. And it was with the combined effort of their gifted gennins, and a chunnin, they were able to recover one of their most gifted ninjas. The named gennins and chunnin all went up, and were given a medal for their efforts. Of course, except Naruto, who was with Jiraiya in front of Konoha's entrance.

Naruto's missing name was ignored by most of the village. Those who noticed his absence were of course, the gennins involved, Shikamaru, Hinata, and Sakura. Their questions were met with silence later that day when they asked to Tsunade where Naruto was. She just gave them a smile, and told them that he will be returning after some time.

As the crowd suddenly celebrated in the successful rescue of Sasuke, and blaming Orochimaru for trying to steal Konoha's most precious treasure, Naruto and Jiraiya met at the front gate, with no one there to greet them out except for the guard.

"Naruto… looks like this will be the last time you'll see the village in a long time," Jiraiya declares. "This is your chance to say goodbye to it."

"No need," Naruto replies, looking back to his village. "I'm returning after some time. It would be awkward to say goodbye to it and then return after a bit."

"Haha, whatever, let's go."

"Right behind you… Ero-sensei."

As the sun rose, so did a new era, where Naruto left the village to train, and start his adventure.

**Uzumaki Naruto Ninja Chronicles: Beginning…**

**The End. **

**Author's Note: **

**The next arc of the UNNC is Fairy Odd Adventure. - See you there!**

**Oh, and before I forget... everyone, give a hand to Aaron, the one who wrote the fight sequence. He's been a great help, and due to his help, this fic came out earlier than expected! So, yeah, give him lots of hands, guys!**


End file.
